


Night Mistress

by AuthorA97



Series: Marvel Traveling Universe (MTU) [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Girl with superpowers, Murder of a small child (so sorry!), Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 43,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11456217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorA97/pseuds/AuthorA97
Summary: My name is Morgan Spencer. I'm human...or at least I was. When I was ten, I discovered the power to walk between realities. It's been fun, around 96 years of cartoons, sitcoms, cop shows, and college movies. Until I discovered the joys of Marvel. After some time, I walked into the Marvelverse and found myself becoming the brat (daughter out of wedlock) of Tony Stark.





	1. Chapter 00

It was official. Anthony Stark was the biggest douchebag on the planet.

He awoke that morning, hungover, in his apartment in LA. Tony can vaguely recall it was Wednesday. What had he been doing last night? It was something about party...Tony had been with some friends getting drunk. He couldn’t remember why they all went out for drinks on a Tuesday, maybe it was just another one of their _ ‘drink because we’re not getting in trouble’  _ things. His coffee machine at least worked, but Tony had used up the last of his creamer yesterday so what was even the point?

Tony had graduated from MIT a few months ago, so he had nothing to do with his  _ ‘formative years’  _ beside using his fake ID to buy drinks for his buddies. It was either that, or listen to his dad complain about how he was wasting his potential. Tony didn’t see the problem. He was having fun. He didn’t want to end up like his dad, with a huge stick up his ass and making his son live up to  _ Captain America _ . Just thinking about that humanized American flag made Tony want to be blackout drunk again. 

So what if he partied these years? When his dad died, Tony would still be named head of the Stark company. His mother would never let his dad write him out like that, not without calling Tony first. Tony definitely had issues with his dad, but his mom was always someone he knew liked him.

At this point, he was just an ordinary douchebag.

Until Tony went to his apartment door, looking for the morning edition (He liked the funnies, and hoped to read something embarrassing about his dad). Until he saw the wrapped up thing on his ‘doorstep’. Until it started crying, loudly.

Tony, having no idea what a baby was doing here, checked the hallway. If someone had dropped this off, they were long gone now. Who would even leave it here? It couldn’t be his, who even knew he lived here? You know, besides his mom and friends...and the dozens of one night stands Tony had since moving in. Okay a lot of people knew where he lived.

The baby wailed again. He should get that under control first.

Tony brought the baby into his apartment. It didn’t even come with one of those baby carrier things, so he put it on the couch.

That was when he saw the note.

_ ‘Tony _ ’ It said on the front.

He’ll admit, he was dreading whatever the letter was saying. The son of the billionaire could already tell it was something he wouldn’t like. Tony could already see his dad’s angry expression and his mom’s disappointed one.

Tony knew he just had to rip off the bandaid. He picked up the letter, all the while the baby still cried. Didn’t they have an off switch?

_ ‘Asshole’ _

Oh yeah, this letter was for him. He was worried for a second there.

_ ‘Asshole, you probably have no idea who I am. I was just another one of your conquests, so it doesn’t really matter does it? Anyway, guess what, that’s your daughter. No way am I going to be responsible for your spawn. It’ll probably be just like you. She was born on Sunday, four in the freaking morning. Good luck sleeping around with this. _

_ Signed, Eff you Stark’ _

Tony dropped the letter, unsure of what to do now. He looked over the still crying kid, and it was that moment he became the biggest douchebag on the planet.

_ He didn’t want to keep her either. _

 

==NM==

 

Unfortunately for Tony, his father wouldn’t give him that option. Tony had to raise the little Stark, and still go through college. It was the least he could do after he was stupid enough to get some girl pregnant (if Tony did the math right it was around Christmas break. It was a huge party at the frat house, and he couldn’t remember for the life of him who he had gone home with)

Thanks to his mother the baby at least had a name. _ Rebecca Maren Stark _ . Tony ended up calling her  _ Becky _ , much to his father’s irritation.

“Not even three months his own and he gets a girl pregnant.” Harold Stark had said to his wife, Tony and Becky. Well, Becky was chewing on her fingers, but she was in the room. “What were you thinking? Why didn’t you use protection?”

“Probably was too drunk, since I’m such a degenerate anyway.” Tony said sarcastically. His mother’s look shut him up. “Or...or maybe it broke. I can’t remember most-”

“And now he’s partying all night!” Harold argued. “Honestly, Anthony, could you grow up?”

Tony smirked. Oh, he was gonna get it. “Hey Dad, watch it. Becky’s in the room.”

“Boys.” Maria sighed in exasperation. Did they have to do this every time they were in the same room? She looked over to her granddaughter (now chewing on her blanket) with worry. 

Harold glared angrily at his son. “You’re a Stark. You have an a lot to live up to-”

“So you keep reminding me.” Tony mumbled dryly.

His father chose to ignore that. “You can’t go screwing it up by getting girls pregnant! Especially because now you have no idea who her mother is! Now she’s left you with the kid, and you’re going to raise her.”

“Can’t you guys? I’ve got a life!” Tony argued. He wasn’t ready to be a father, not by a long shot. Kids brought you down, looked what happened to his dad. Tony didn’t know what he’d do if he ended up like his dad. Or worse, what _ Becky _ would do if Tony ended up like his dad.

Maria felt the need to help her son. She could see him struggling with this, it was a lot of responsibility to take in just a few days. Maybe this was just the thing he needed to help grow up. She loved her son, but even she could see his flaws taking him over. She didn’t want to think about what kind of man he’d be if this went on.

“Anthony, please.” She tried to assure her son. He paused in his argument with Howard, looking at his mother with annoyed but respectful eyes. “We know this is a shock. It’s a lot of responsibility to take on all at once. But could you at least try? Be a father to her?”

Tony couldn’t say no to his mom. He dreaded to think of the amount of guilt tripping he would get if he gave up Becky like her mother had.

He would try. For his mom, he would try.

Plus, imagine how pissed his dad wild be if Tony could pull this off.

With that thought, he was sold on it. “Okay. Deal. I’ll do it.”

 

==NM==

 

Tony Stark’s next few years were the most aggravating of his life. Babies were so  _ demanding. _ Always needed their diaper changed, or their clothes, or sleep, or no sleep, or to play and crawl and just put their mouth’s on  _ everything _ . He lost count of how many times he took away an invention because Becky was teething on it.

But he kept on. His mom wanted him to raise her, to be a father to Little Beaky Becky. Tony knew that Becky loved the visits from Nana (which Maria had been so happy to be called)

Then she died on the side of the road.

Tony remembered the night his parents died in the car wreck. One of her nannies (Tony forgot just how many Becky had) took her in for the next month. The new head of Stark Industries had work to do before he could take over the company, and raising a two-year-old was kinda not in the plan.

He’d given her dozens of nannies (some were the hot ones, some were the old ladies that had knitting circles and loved bird watching) over the course of her childhood. Tony didn’t remember sending her off to her first day of preschool, or her last. He was too busy now running Stark Industries to do much else for  _ Little Becky _ .

One day, out of nowhere, Tony saw the nanny was teaching a seven year old to bake in his kitchen.

Another day, an eight year old had learned that the TV had a remote and that cartoons were a thing. (A  _ loud  _ thing)

Another day, a nine year old befriended JARVIS, and made a robot Barbie doll.

Another day, a ten year old was wearing glasses and working on geometry.

Tony  _ did _ remember sending her to boarding school. It was probably something a nanny had said in passing, and Tony thought it was the best idea he’d ever heard. He could faintly remember telling her it was like Hogwarts for cool kids. (The girl liked the nerd books, one of the nannies must’ve given them to her)

When she graduated at sixteen, Tony was finishing up his latest project at Stark Industries. He knew Pepper had gone, because Tony couldn’t find the redhead that weekend. Becky was in her last year at MIT, currently. Or, maybe it was high school? He could barely keep track of her on a good day.

Then came time for his Amogee Award...or whatever that stupid thing was. He didn’t care. Pepper had told him it was a big deal, so Tony guessed it was important.

When he went to bed that night, he had one last thought. 

_ Dad was right. I couldn’t do it. _


	2. Chapter 01

It was too hot outside to wear my usual sweater and leggings. That had been drilled into my head before coming. I (Pepper threw this at me and told me to wear it) was in a black and white pencil skirt, a white tank top, and a tight pale blue half buttoned peplum, black two strap slip on shoes, my Infinity Bag, and a pair of cat eye glasses.

I had been squeezed in between Tony and the soldier. You could see that Tony was just _ ecstatic _ to have me tagging along with him. It had been like this since I became self aware of Becky’s past.

I was staring out the window, bored. “Why did I have to come along, again?” I asked Tony. He probably didn’t care 

“Because Pepper did a thing.” Tony remarked dryly. 

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Typically Stark answer:  _ not telling you anything because there’s a chance I have no idea what the answer is _ . Pepper wanted me to come along to learn about the family business probably. It was one of the things I learned she liked doing.

He had scotch in his hand, a drink I would be more than happy to be having with him. If anything was going to get me ready for what happened next, it would be alcohol. 

“I feel like you’re driving me to court martial. This is crazy.” Tony said. “What did I do? I feel like you’re gonna pull over and snuff me.”

The three soldiers continued in silence. I looked down at my French painted nails, briefly wondering how much pressure it would take to dig this into Tony’s neck and have him pass out.

“What, you’re not allowed to talk?” The billionaire asked, turning to the soldier on my left. “Hey, Forest-”

I don’t even want to know what the rest of that sentence was. “We can talk, sir.” The soldier explained.

“Oh, I see. So it’s personal?” Tony asked.

“No, you intimidate them.” The female soldier said suddenly.

“Dear God, you’re a woman! I honestly, I couldn’t have called that.” Tony said.

“God Dad...” I sighed angrily, reaching up to pinch my forehead.

“I mean, I would apologize, but isn’t that what we’re going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.”

“I’m an airman.” The soldier corrected.

I laughed at Tony’s growing embarrassment. Course like the asshole he was, it barely affected him. “Well you have actually excellent bone structure there. I’m kinda… having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?”

He sent a smug smile my way, as if to brag that he hadn’t been as embarrassed as I thought. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms in more of a show of annoyance. The soldiers laughed at his immaturity.

“C’mon, it’s okay, laugh.” He elbowed me. “Hey!”

“Watch it.” I warned him, glaring. Why didn’t I ride with Rhodes, again? Oh right...

“Sir, I have a question to ask.” The soldier in the seat in front of Tony asked.

“Yes, please.” The billionaire asked, looking at his drink.

“It is true you went 12-for-12 with last year’s Maxim cover models?” The soldier asked.

Flashes of different woman being escorted from the house came to mind, recognizing some from parties the night before. He really had no shame around Becky, huh?

“That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately the Christmas cover was twins.” Tony explained. I was glad that this was only the biological father, otherwise this would be embarrassing. “Anything else?”

“Can you close your mouth until we get back to the plane?” I asked snidely.

“Choosing not to acknowledge that.” Tony said.

I snorted, looking to the soldiers. “Every day, every day I deal with this.”

“Just, don’t listen to her. She’s a teenager.” Tony argued.

“I’m  _ twenty _ !” The airman driving sent me back an apologetic look. I just made eye contact, subtly shaking my head.

“Seriously, no other questions?” The soldier beside me held up his hand, actually having a hand up. I had to sit back so Tony could see it. “You’re kidding me with a hand up, right?”

“Is it cool if I take a picture with you?” He asked. “Eh...The two of you?”

I smiled, unused in this world to having people want pictures of me. “Of course!”

“Yes, it’s very cool.” Tony said. He started moving across.

Rolling my eyes as the soldier got his camera, I shifted over to Tony’s seat. The billionaire that I was pretending was my father sat next to the soldier, while I had to lean in. I think you could barely see me in the photo.

“I don’t wanna see this on your MySpace page.” Tony said. 

“Feel free to have it on mine.” I said, unsure if I even had a MySpace page.

The soldier threw up a peace sign, and I held up a  _ rock ‘n’ roll  _ sign, “Please, no gang signs.” Tony said to us.

“Throw it up just to annoy him.” I argued, keeping a smirk. “And he’s kidding. Basics of his personality.”

“Oh, haha, very funny Becky.” Tony said snidely. “Yeah, peace! I love peace.” He said sarcastically. “I’d be outta job with peace.”

“Good.” I said dryly.

“C’mon! Just click it, don’t change the settings, just click it.” The soldier said to his friend. I snorted, thinking it hilarious as all daughters did when  _ Daddy _ was forced into a photo.

*BOOM*

I had to hold back my scream. 

The car in front of us blew to the sky. ‘ _ The first car is always hit in an ambush.’ _ “What’s going on?” Tony asked.

“Ambush.” I explained. Right now, I felt more like an underprepared bodyguard than his  _ ‘daughter’ _ .

The airman hopped out. The camera soldier looked back to the third soldier. “Jimmy, stay with the Starks!”

He nodded, grabbing Tony’s shoulder. “Stay down!” He ordered.

The weapons maker did, me following. The camera soldier was shot on the hood of the car. Tony yelped, getting back up in his seat.

“Son of a bitch!”  Jimmy hopped out of the car, closing the door behind him. I turned around, an awkward thing to do when sitting down.

“Wait, wait, give me a gun!” Tony demanded.

“Ignore him!” I shouted.

The soldier ignored him, opening the door. I would have one of my guns, but I left them at home because I couldn’t bring a concealed weapon without a permit. Bullcrap. “Stay here!” Jimmy shouted at us, closing the door behind him.

I huffed, brushing some of the loose strands of my black hair back. The sounds of gunfire and screams filled the car. Because of the photo, I was closer to the door. It helped, in hindsight. Tony, on the other hand, was trying to open the locked door on his side.

Then his side of the car became covered in holes. My ears started ringing, and I could feel the hot metal of the car stick to my clothes.

“Idiot!” I shouted at Tony, quickly shoving my door open. Years upon years of police training were kicking in, despite the non police setting. “Go!”

Tony climbed over me, hopping out of the car. I checked the area in case anyone got close before following after him.

I managed to get him to run a few yards away. Checking constantly over my shoulder, I could barely make out Rhodes in all this mess. Had to keep Tony moving, get him far enough so that the missile wouldn’t kill him.

He dove behind a rock, with me sliding in next to him. The explosions were getting louder, and closer. One hit just a few yards away from us.

Tony brought out his phone, trying to dial Rhodes, or maybe Obadiah.

True to Stark luck (or maybe my trouble magnet), a missile landed just two yards away.

It had our name on it. That’s the definition of screwed.

I stood up, trying to run from the explosive. “MOVE!” I barked at him. Our ears were ringing, so there was small chance he heard me.

It also could’ve been the sight of the bomb. He got up, stumbling behind me.

*BOOM*

The blast threw us to the ground. I winced in pain, feeling multiple rocks and some shrapnel in my cuts.

 

==NM==

 

I woke to flashes of Arabic, and burlap, and men with guns. One of my old college classmates was Arabic, and I took the time to understand her language to help her feel welcome. It helped when the movie credits were shit.

_ “You did not tell us that the targets you paid us to kill were the great Tony Stark and his child.”  _ The man said to the camera.  _ “As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill the Starks has just gone up.” _

My ears were still a bit off, but that could be because of anything.

Squinting my eyes, I could see the Ten Ring soldiers surrounding us. My hands were tied behind my back, and too tightly to do much more than wriggle.

A man continued soaking, reading off an old piece of parchment. I was too dazed to say anything, so I turned to Tony. The man had still bleeding cuts all over his face, and based on the stinging pain I was feeling I had similar cuts.

Tony glanced at me, looking like it had just been slammed in his face that I was here with him.

I glanced down to his chest, seeing trails of blood still leaking out into his shirt. My pale colored clothing was no better, completely covered in rips, blood, and dirt. There was a pounding in my head, like the worse hangover I’d ever had.


	3. Chapter 02

My name is Morgan Spencer.

My name is also Becky Stark.

You heard this bit, so I’m gonna go on.

I’d been in Marvelverse for three weeks now, learning just about the bare minimum one could learn. Tony didn’t care about me, Pepper and I were somewhat close, and JARVIS and I are friends.

Sometimes, when I arrive in these other worlds, I get the memories of the person I had become. Little things, but sometimes I’d get a big one.

Little Becky had been through the ringer, that’s for sure. The bits and pieces of memory I had been getting for this night alone. Becky had been to countless nights like this, mostly hidden in the back or at home with nannies. There was the not so rare occasion where she had to sit out here with the  _ big kids _ but only for the press to confirm she wasn’t dead.

Not only that, but Tony had apparently gone full douchebag in terms of childcare. The 96 year old in me was enraged at seeing Becky’s treatment, bordering on negligence. Dozens of nannies, missed school plays, parent nights attended by Pepper or a nanny. Becky had a knack for tech as her father, but none went noticed.

She tried for years to be a daughter he’d be proud of. The top of all her classes at high school then college, building robots and designing them, learning multiple languages, and not getting into any magazine worthy drama. She even convinced Pepper to let her read some of the various documents of Stark Industries so Becky would know the basics of her father’s business. There are two extremes for trust-fund-kids, and Becky took the other end of the stick.

Then again, the eleven year old who was passed over by her own parents inside me could understand. Nothing she did ever crossed his radar for more than a few days. She gave it her all, trying to be like Tony and make him proud. It never worked. Course, I was only seeing flashbacks and glances of her life. There could be some nice days I’m not seeing.

Who the hell was I kidding? Douchebag Tony was an asshole.

Due to previously explained circumstances, I was at the Award Ceremony for Tony. The man currently gambling in the casinos of Las Vegas.

Pepper said it would be a good idea to come here for Tony. She had managed to get me in a slimming black dress, though we ended up compromising on a pair of gold flats. She had been gentle with makeup: light blush and faint pink lips.

I guess after years of not being noticed or cared for by Tony, Becky became the type that didn’t want any attention. Her hair tonight helped with it being let down like a black curtain around her face. 

Tony’s chair was empty. At this point in the night, anyone could tell he wasn’t going to show or forgot the time. I huffed. He could get out of this stupid dinner, but I couldn’t?

Obadiah Stane was sitting on my left, something I was trying hard to not freak out over. I knew that in less than a year, he would have plotted to have Tony kidnapped, murdered, and then he would attempt to murder him in his home.

Which I later realized included me too.  _ 36 hours to go... _

_ “Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot.”  _ The announcer gave exposition to his past. I noticed they didn’t put  _ father _ in that list, but who gives a shit about the brat?

_ “Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind.” _

_ “At age four, he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first engine. And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT.” _

I huffed, ignoring everyone in the room’s look of awe at the presentation.  _ ‘At 11, I built a communication device small enough to fit in a watch. At 19, I graduated Harvard as a salutatorian with honors. At 27, I built the device to bring Stitch back to life. 33, I created  _ life _. 46, I graduated another college as valedictorian and with a PhD in psychology. 55, I found a way to keep myself from constantly being electrocuted by using my powers to reroute the electricity for greater attacks. 75, I  _ accidentally  _ created  _ AI _.  _

Then again, that was all me. I had done all of that. Becky Stark only graduated MIT at 18, and was the child of Tony Stark. He’s not even my real dad, but I can’t stop feeling under appreciated.

_ “Then, the passing of a titan. Howard Stark’s lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries.” _

Low and behold, a small picture of me with Tony. Well, of  _ Becky _ and Tony. She was six, with her hair in pigtails and wearing what looked more like something Dorothy would wear than normal human clothes. It was squeezed in with a billion other photos, so there wasn’t much.

_ “With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father’s legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting.” _ The video continued. It took effort not to roll my eyes, instead I just toyed with my fork idly.  _ “Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe.” _

At their cue, the audience applauded. I was obligated to join in.

My applause was more genuine when Rhodes came out. Becky’s memories of him were faint, but fond. Their few interactions were kind, and polite, and someone talking to her to actually talk and not about her dad.

“As liaison to Stark Industries, I’ve had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot.” Rhodes said. I smirked, leaning back in my chair. “He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year’s Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark.”

The spotlight shines down on our table, mostly on the empty chair beside me. Everyone applauded, but I stared at Rhodes with a grim expression.

_ ‘He never came to my award ceremonies. Why should he come to his own?’ _

The thought had felt more like from Becky than myself, but I couldn’t disagree with the girl.

Becky existed only in my memories now, this body coming with her own personality taken from years of parental neglect and self assurance. 

“Tony?” Rhodes called out.

I shook my head, almost crossing my arms in annoyance. This must’ve been why Pepper sent me, because Dad missed a lot of these awards.

I called him Dad. That needs to stop. He’s Tony Stark, not Dad.  _ Dad _ is at Home, probably waiting for a basketball game or something. I had to call Tony Dad when speaking, but I can’t let the line blur. It needs to stay a line.

He doesn’t want his daughter? Fine. Now his daughter doesn’t want him.

As the heir apparent to Stark Industries, it was up to Becky to accept the award on Tony’s behalf. I rose up from my chair, the applause still going on as I maneuvered through the crowds to the stage.

To everyone, Rhodes looked just a bit embarrassed at Tony’s absence, but to people who were family friends, Rhodes clearly wanted to knock Tony’s lights out.

“Thank you, Colonel.” I said, using any of my past 90 years to give me a confidence boost. My hand reached out to shake his, the other picking up the award.

Rhodes passed it to me, leaning in so his words would only be heard by me. “Thanks for the save.”

“No problem.” I whispered, slipping back into stage persona. “This is beautiful. Thank you.” I turned to the audience. “Thank you all very much. This is wonderful.”

The applause began to fade, so I gave my adjusted acceptance speech.

“Well, I’m not Tony Stark, I’m his daughter, Becky.” There was some laughter, which made me feel better about the speech. I looked down at the glass statue, keeping myself professional. “But if I were Dad, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award.”

I held back a sigh. More of Becky’s memories came back. Her high school graduation, her first dance recital, science fair number five. One thing in common: Tony wasn’t in any of them.

“Dad, you know...The best thing about Dad is also the worst thing.” I said, feeling honest for the first time tonight. “He’s always working.”

_ ‘I have an entire childhood to prove it.’ _

 

==NM==

 

The ceremony ended after that. Without Tony, no one saw much point of prolonging it.

Rhodes stuck by me as we walked around the casino floor. I was trying not to let Becky’s memories and emotions cloud my judgment, but it was hard. I could remember being that little girl, always hoping for her hero to come see her, and then him never showing up.

I also remember my own childhood, my own father. He was always working too, and it always sucked for me. He had my two brothers to pay attention to, and they were way better then me at everything. Not even Mom cared about me, forcing me into her ballet class, pep squad, and cheerleading team only to be met with disappointment.

Becky’s mom cared about her even less, because she was abandoned on Tony’s doorstep like a morning newspaper.

I’ve had a couple bad childhoods in 90 years, certain movies or shows based around kids required that, but this was a bit much. It reminded me too much of a life I had sixty years ago with  _ Lilo and Stitch _ . Back then, I was a little abandoned girl named Mahina Alana. Her father died, I think, and her mother left with a false promise of returning. Mahina met Jumba Jookiba, an alien that later adopted her and was the best father anyone could ever have. I called him  _ Pops _ .

But then things went wrong. I left. I would never see Pops again. I would have hundreds of Dad’s, but only one Pops.

Tony was just another name in a long line of disappointed father’s.

“Sorry he didn’t show up again.” I tried to reassure.

Rhodes shook his head, still pissed. “No. He’s been doing this stuff for twenty years. He needs to grow up.”

I snorted. Rhodes wasn’t  _ wrong _ . “It’s fine. I can tell people I accepted an Apogee Award.” I lifted the glass statue. “It’s technically got my name on it.”

The Colonel cracked a grin at my joke. He was still mad at Tony, and I guess for similar reasons that I was upset. Tony had been avoiding all my ceremonies, and missing another one of his had crossed a line, or something.

_ ‘He can miss mine, but missing his own earns the third degree?’ _ Becky’s personality thought. This girl had a lot of internalized anger...I like it.

“Work it! Come on!”

Rhodes and I sighed, turning to the dice table. “Found Dad.” I remarked dryly, looking through the crowd to see him in front of Happy.

The group of people surrounding him parted for us. I was gifted the sight of him covered by a woman in a short dress and too much make-up.

The daughter in me sneered in disgust and embarrassment. Perks of having a bachelor for a father.  _ ‘Okay, what did I say about calling him Dad in my head?’ _ I scolded myself.

I was unfortunately close enough to hear him purr in her ear. _ “We should just stay till the morning.” _

The Colonel had enough of Stark’s antics for one night. “You are unbelievable.” He said. He grabbed the award, and for a split second I thought he was going to bash Tony’s head with it.

The woman (who I struggled not to call a whore) stepped away from Tony like she’d been burned. It made enough space for me to squeeze in behind Rhodes. “Oh, no! Did they rope you into this?” Tony signed, looking right at Rhodes. I was ignored, again.

“No, they roped  _ Becky  _ into this.” Rhodes pointed at me with his thumb. I waved gently, my arms crossing in embarrassment. “Nobody roped me into anything!”

“I’m so sorry.” Tony pouted.

The action only made Rhodes angrier. “But they told me that if I presented you with an award, you’d be deeply honored.” Rhodes commented, trying to get Tony to realize the problem.

“Of course I’d be deeply honored.” Tony said, trying to get back to his game. “And it’s you, that’s great. So when do we do it?”

“It’s right here.” Rhodes said smugly, raising the glass award.

“One more round-oh.” The billionaire looked down at the statue. 

“Here you go.”

“Guys, please? We’re getting attention.” I warned, unable to stop from seeing everyone at the table watching the two of them argue.

“There it is. That was easy.” Tony took the statue, focusing on the game though. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Not the first time it’s happened.”

“Wow! Would you look at that? That’s something else.” Tony passed the statue to me. I held it up knowingly to Rhodes, as if to say  _ ‘He just doesn’t care’ _ “I don’t have any of those floating around.” He pushed more chips into the game, making me roll my eyes. “We’re gonna let it ride!”

I held back another sigh. Sorry for having to say this, but a part of me is happy that in 35 hours this douchebag is kidnapped by terrorists. There. I said it.

“Give me a hand, will you?” The man that was biologically my father said to the woman he was schmoozing. He held out the dice to her. The woman smiled seductively. “Give me a little something-something.” She blew gently on the dice, staring him in the eyes.  _ ‘And just like that, I’m not going to sleep tonight.’  _ “Okay, you too.”

It took me a second to realize he was holding the dice out to me. I glared, offended. “I’m not blowing on the dice.” _ ‘If these are the family games the Starks play, no wonder Becky has such low self esteem.’ _

“Come on! Daddy needs a new pair of shoes.” Tony taunted, shaking his fist trying to make the dice more appealing.

If looks could kill. I remembered that he was a- _ (content not appropriate) _ “Then  _ Daddy _ can spend some of his billions of dollars to buy them.”

“Fine.” He moved it over to Rhodes. “You do it.”

The Colonel glared at Tony. “I don’t blow on a man’s dice.” He deadpanned.

“Come on, honey bear.” The billionaire taunted. He knocked the dice away from him, unfortunately causing them to roll on the table. “There it is.”

I sighed, a hand reaching up to my forehead. Rhodes looked at me apologetically, not meaning to have encouraged Da-Tony.

“Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolls! And...” Tony smirked, proud of himself. The dice landed poorly. The Stark patriarch earned glares from Rhodes and myself.

“Two craps. Line away.” The dealer said. Hold on a second, what did they call they guy working at the dice table again? It wasn’t dealer...I must be exhausted if I can’t remember this.

“That’s what happens.” Rhodes shrugged, trying not to let Tony get to him.

“Worse things  _ have _ happened. I think we’re gonna be fine.” Tony nodded towards the dealer, or whatever he was called for this game because I couldn’t care less. “Color me up, William.”

I grunted, rubbing at my forehead. “I’m gonna go.” Turning away from the table, I tried to make my way through the crowd.

“Hold on, where are you going?” Rhodes asked. He came up to my side, reaching for my arm to keep me back.

“Gift shops. I have to buy a friend a gift.” I grumbled, twisting my arm to get out of his grasp.

“You just gonna leave me here with him?”

“He’s got Happy.” I assured, crossing my arms over my chest. This dress was annoying and I just wanted to go to the Stark house and sleep.

 

==NM==

 

Nearly an hour after midnight, and the three of us met up near the doors of the casino to part ways. Vegas was a fun destination, but not my go to. I’d prefer to visit upstate, like California or anywhere but the party city of the world.

Some of Tony’s guards stuck around with me, though at a distance. It wasn’t obstructive, but people would notice if they really looked. I got one guard, Sam, to help me pick out the gift. He had a wife who was apparently knowledgeable on the subject.

So that’s why I’m walking with Tony and Rhodes with three semi full shopping bags. The bank account was some of the only proof I’d seen that Tony had any semblance of care for his child. There was good in him after all.

Rhodes had spent most of the night keeping watch on Tony. The Colonel seemed a bit less angrier than earlier, though the anger was lying under the surface. Maybe I was wrong in my assumption that it was because Tony missed tonight’s award show. Rhodes could be angry because I was the one who had to cover for Tony.

“This is where I exit.” Rhodes shook Tony’s hand.

The billionaire nodded. “All right.”

The Colonel snapped his fingers at Tony, throwing me a  “Tomorrow, don’t be late.”

“Yeah, you can count on it.”

“I’m serious!” Rhodes said.

“I know, I know.” Tony brushed him off, continuing on.

Rhodes gave me a look. “And Becks, you call me if you need anything, alright?”

I nodded my head, giving him a reassuring yet resigned smile.

 

==NM==

 

The security guards walked us to our cars. Tony usually had his own, according to Becky’s memories it was since a seven year old was not great for the bachelor image. Becky started getting her own limo, or most of the time a town car, when she was eight. This continued until Becky went to boarding school. When I came back for the summer and other holidays, the separate car came back.

So, it felt like a godsend when I saw the reporter coming up. I remember that in my world I had learned her name, but right now I was surprised I knew she was a reporter.

“Mr. Stark!” She called out, being held back by two of Tony’s guards.

Mine were keeping a firm stand in front of me, just in case. It sounded ridiculous, but there were a lot of cases in my cop days when even someone innocent looking was hiding a gun. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?” She said, holding out her pen.

While Tony and Happy whispered, one of my guards turned to me. “Miss Stark?” He asked.

I sighed, opening my car door. “Let’s just go home.”

The guard nodded curtly. “Alright, miss.”

I swear, I hate being called _ miss _ . I was _ ninety seven _ for crying out loud.

 

==NM==

 

JARVIS woke me up that morning.

“Good morning. It’s 7 AM. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m. Sunset will be at 8:29 PM.”

My room was spacious, with the glass windows. The walls had been painted a rich red, and the floor was tan marble with some white carpet. The bed was a large queen, with a brown headboard, deep blue bedsheets, and a deeper blue comforter.

“Thanks Uncle JARVIS.” I grumbled, pulling myself out from under the covers.

“No problem, Miss Stark.”

“ _ Uncle JARVIS. _ ” I said in a warning tone. “You don’t have to call me Miss Stark. Becky is more than fine.”

“Apologies. No problem, Becky.”

I smirked. I swear, he does it to annoy me.

In these three weeks, JARVIS and I had become friends. 

 

==NM==

 

I came downstairs to find Pepper waiting for Tony’s garbage.

My clothes today were a tan wool sweater, with teal, red, and white tri-colored leggings, and roman style sandals. On my face was a pair of my bright red reading glasses, and the other accessories was a red plastic watch and a simple necklace with Grandma Stark’s wedding ring.

Pepper had a tired look on her face, probably annoyed at Tony’s usual attitude. She was holding the reporter’s dry cleaned clothing in one hand, while the other had her clipboard. It turned to a disbelieving smile when she saw what I was wearing. “You’re the only person I know that wears sweaters right now.”

I shrugged. “It’s freezing in here.”

“Because you keep having JARVIS turn up the AC.” Pepper teased, holding up the reporters clothes. 

Holding up a bag from behind my back, I gave it to her. “Oh, and happy birthday.”

Pepper smiled, borderline cynical.  _ ‘Because she knows Tony didn’t get her anything.’ _ I thought.  _ ‘Not my gift. Especially not when she finds out it’s a birthstone tennis bracelet.’ _

“Tony?” Christina shouted, breaking my train of thought. I think her name was Christina... She was wearing Dad’s shirt from last night, probably because Pepper had taken her’s.

_ And I called him Dad again. _

“I didn’t know it was garbage day.” I grumbled, crossing my arms.

Pepper smiled thinly. “Tony always seem to overflow on it.”

My growl fell, leaving a smirk.

The reporter walked towards a JARVIS screen. “Hey, Tony?” She pressed on the screen.

His alarms blared. There was a snort held back in my throat. Pepper smiled with me. “You are not authorized to access this area.” JARVIS 

Christina gasped. She leapt back. “Jesus.”

Hiding my smirk, I sent Christina a scowl. “That’s Uncle JARVIS. He runs the house.” I explained, crossing my arms over my tan sweater.

The blonde turned white as a sheet.

Tony’s garbage narrowed her eyes at me. “Rebecca Stark.” Christina said.

An innocent smile fell on my face. “I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a lie.” I said, in false cheer.

She scoffed. “Tony Stark’s illegitimate daughter, only comes out of the shadows when he couldn’t be bothered.”

“What does that say about how he feels about you?” I countered, locking eyes with her. Though, it felt like locking horns.

Pepper held out the dry cleaning. It felt more like waving a white flag. “I’ve got your clothes here.” The redhead draped the clothes over her arm. She wrote on the clipboard. “They’ve been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there’s a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

Christina moved to the new target. “So you must be the famous Pepper Potts.” 

“Indeed I am.” Pepper said, thinly.

“After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.” She remarked, taking the clothes from my friend.

“I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash.” Pepper said, not hiding her feelings. She smiled politely at Christina. “Will that be all?”

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that I remember her name was Christin _ e _ . Oh well, better luck next time.

 

==NM==

 

Three hours later, and my nerves were getting the best of me. These were going to be my last few hours on American soil for three months. I would be trapped in a cave with a deadbeat father and a translator who could later be shot dead. There was a fifty percent chance of myself becoming my own metal heroine, but that dropped to thirty-five because I had sworn off any connection metal superheroines after a loss of a close friend.

More over, there was a more than likely seventy five percent chance of my own death. If not from the exploding humvees and terrorist gunfire, then the Ten Rings killing Tony Stark’s child for the bigger fish.

It was hard to say which of us was more of a risk for Obadiah. Tony was the face of the companion, and obviously skilled around mechanics. He was also going to be a liability after Afghan. Becky was young, fresher, easy guided by a father-like figure in place of Tony. Her only problem? I existed. No way was Obadiah was controlling me.

So, that’s that.

There is also a ninety nine percent chance of Tony’s murder when Pepper gets hold of him.

Being late like this was making me panic, and I’m never a polite person when I am panicking. Especially when it was an appointment  _ with the military! _

My hair was a mess, much to Pepper’s displeasure. My black hair was in a messy braid off my right shoulder.

“Straightening didn’t work out?” Pepper asked.

I shook my head. “With how hot it is over there? No way am I letting it hang around my neck.” I said, my arm nervously running at my shoulder.

The redhead conceded. “Good point.” She came over, giving me a look of reassurance. “Where’s your father?”

“Basement.” I said flatly. “I’ve tried getting JARVIS to call him up here, but he’s in a  _ mood _ .” Rubbing at my shoulder again, I lightly scratched as well.  _ ‘Oh, it’s bad now. If I’m scratching, hair pulling isn’t far behind.’ _

The woman nodded, marching down towards his workspace. I followed, if only because if left alone with my nerves I’d go crazy.

You could hear the music as you walked down the stairs. Tony was working on another car.

Pepper typed in her keycode, while simultaneously answering a phonecall. I pressed a button, turning off his music. “Yes. I know we’re late, Colonel. Becky’s been trying to bring him up, but you know how he is. Yes. I’m gonna try again, right now.” Pepper explained.

“Please don’t turn down my music.” The mechanic that was supposed to be on a plane with my said.

“No.” I said, flatly.

“I’ll keep you posted.” Pepper hung up on the Colonel. She looked tiredly at Tony. “You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now.”

“How’d she take it?” Tony asked, not looking back.

“Like a champ.” I droned.

“Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?” He asked, though it was clearly directed at Pepper.

“Our flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.” I snapped, feeling like the parent scolding the child. “And you won’t give me my own car so I can’t drive there, because if I left you with just those overpriced _bumper_ _cars_ you would never show up.”

“That’s funny. I thought with it being  _ my plane  _ and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.” The Stark patriarch said, pushing a metal plate on the car. “And those  _ bumper cars _ are actually a good idea. I should buy some.”

Just like that, I started tugging at the end of my braid to pull the loose strands.  _ ‘Either grasping at this, or his throat. Lesser of two evils.’ _

“Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door.” Pepper commented.

“Doesn’t it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?” Tony questioned, turning to us.

“Larry called.” Pepper talked on, ignoring his complaints. “He’s got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no.”

“Is it a good representation of his spring period?”

“No. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked, not ‘spring’ like the season.” I clarified, annoyed more than usual.

I was still pulling loose hair from my braid, my mind playing over the next twenty-four hours.  _ Exploding cars, soldiers dying around us, Ten Rings entrapment, Tony with shrapnel in his heart. A spiral towards him becoming a superhero. A chance to save a life, a chance of dying in his place. _

“So?” Tony countered.

“I think it’s a fair example. I think it’s incredibly overpriced.” She reasoned.

Tony paused. “I need it. Buy it. Store it.” He stood up from the car, walking away.

The redhead sighed. “Okay. The MIT commencement speech-” Pepper began, following after him.

I stayed by the door, pulling at my hair.  _ ‘This is a poor outfit to wear if I’m being ambushed. I mean, take away the jacket and I’m in a stupid tank top.’  _

Their conversation faded from my head. I stared at my reflection in the window door. I had been making a fuss about my real age, but as I stared at my reflection I could only see a scared eleven year old with a countdown over her head.

It was so odd. I had three different personalities in my head; the eleven year old, the ninety-seven year old, and Becky Stark. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was steering, or maybe I was crashing.

_ ‘Definitely the older one. I’m getting introspective in my old age.’ _

Pepper’s voice came back into my head, must’ve been talking about me. “I need you to sign this before the two of you get on the plane.” Pepper said. She glanced at me, and nodded.

The papers would be emailed to me inflight for overview. That’s a positive, I guess, reading material to get my mind of my impending capture.

“Hold on, two of us?” Tony asked.

“I’m coming with you as the heir apparent?” I reminded him, using it to try and pull myself out of my thoughts. I walked over towards them, impatiently crossing my arms. “To learn more about Stark Industries? It was Obadiah’s idea. I remember him talking to you about it.”

Tony blinked, getting back to his work. “Don’t remember that.” He said, bored of the conversation.

_ “Tony, take Rebecca with you _ .” I quoted in a deep voice, hoping I sounded like Obadiah. I think Obadiah is the only person that calls me Rebecca.  _ “It’d be a good chance for her to see her awesome dad at work _ .”

“Okay, now I remember.” Tony said, smirking.

“Tony, you still have to sign this.” Pepper held the document out to him. “Becky is only the heir apparent. She can’t sign for the documents, you have to.”

“What are you trying to get rid of us for?” Tony asked.  _ ‘Oh, so I’m being included now?’ _ I thought dryly. “What, you got plans?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Pepper stated, pulling out the pen.

“I don’t like it when you have plans.” Tony stated after a pause.

_ ‘Finally. Some kind of discomfort. I was starting to think nothing could get through to him.’ _

“I’m allowed to have plans on my birthday.” Pepper said, not looking at Tony.

“It’s your birthday?” The mechanic asked.

The redhead smiled. I did too, hiding it horribly. The bumper cars suddenly became much more interesting. “Yes.” Pepper said. 

“I knew that.” He lied. “Already?”

“Yeah. Isn’t that strange?” Pepper teased. “It’s the same day as last year.”

“Get yourself something nice from me.” Tony winked at her.

“I already did.” Pepper admitted. Her face lit up with the imagery of her dress. I hoped the bracelet matched...I’m not that great with fashion stuff.

“And?” The mechanic asked, grinning.

“It was very nice.” She sent him a pleased  _ ‘we both know you forgot but it’s okay because I have a crush on you.’ _

“Yeah.” He had on a stupid grin now. How did they not end up dating before this?

“Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark.” She pulled up her wrist. It showed off her tennis bracelet, which relieved some of my nerves.

“You’re welcome, Miss Potts.” Tony grabbed the pen, signing the document. He picked up a small espresso from a nearby tray.

I rolled my eyes, glancing over to Pepper who only shrugged back.

“Okay.” Tony said, handing the now empty cup to Pepper. “Hey, Becky, what was that earlier about the bumper cars?”

_ ‘Okay. Hair pulling is back.’ _


	4. Chapter 03

There was a brief moment when I was passenger side to Tony’s crazy driving, that I thought we were going fast enough to travel back in time. It would be the only way Rhodes wouldn’t be pissed at us for being late.

Tony had must Pepper and I wait another twenty minutes before leaving his house. Was it really so difficult for him to chose one stupid fucking car?! They all made him look like an arrogant asshole. Pepper was ripping her hair out at the roots, and I was planning on killing Becky’s roots.

When we pulled up to the runway, I saw Rhodes standing on the jet waiting for us. He looked angry even from this distance.

Tony slammed on the brakes. I was pulled forward, only barely held back with the seatbelt. 

I climbed out of his car, only mildly affected at his driving. Happy pulled up just a few seconds after.

“You’re good.” Tony complimented. Well, his version of a compliment anyway. He was laughing too. “I thought I lost you back there.”

“You did, sir.” Happy deadpanned. He popped open his trunk, pulling out our overnight bags and Tony’s suit. “I had to cut across Mulholland.”

“I got you. I got you.” The billionaire acknowledged, before walking towards the plane.

“Sorry Happy.” I sighed. I reached for my bag. He waved me off.

“It’s alright, Becky.” Happy grunted. “I got it.”

My messenger bag was over my shoulder. It held a lot more than those suitcases, including some gear I thought would be nice for the cave. The suitcase Happy was holding was as useless as an hole filled sock. I only brought it to keep up appearances.

I ran to the plane, catching up to Tony and Rhodes.

Rhodes stared flatly at Tony. “What’s wrong with you?” Rhodes asked.

I paused on the steps, confused by the angry declaration. What? What did I do? Was it the outfit? Damn, Pepper, I told you this outfit was ridiculous!

“What?” Tony asked innocently.

“Three hours.” Rhodes stated.

“I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair.” Tony excused.

“More like doing someone from Vanity Fair.” I grumbled, climbing up his stupid steps.

“For three hours.” Colonel Rhodes growled.  “For three hours you got me standing here.”

Tony walked past the Colonel. “Waiting on you now. Let’s go. Come on.” Tony hopped into the plane.

I sighed, pulling my bag higher over my shoulder. “I’m so-”

“Wheels up! Rock and roll!” Tony shouted.

“Nah. It’s okay.” Rhodes replied to me. “I’m not blaming you for your dad being an ass.”

The three of us walked onto the plane. There wasn’t much else to do.

 

==NM==

 

Pepper sent me the files of our newest weapon. I was reading over the designs, and projected financials once the contract goes through. It was all mostly legal mumbo jumbo, do I was putting a Harvard degree to use.

She threw in some newspaper arrival about me accepting the award. Pepper liked showing me that I had value in the company, even if Dad ( _ why do I do this to myself? _ ) didn’t see it that way. Well, as much as we argued about it, the dress looked nice on me.

Rhodes and Tony were sitting at the plane side table. 

“What you reading, platypus?” Tony asked Rhodes.

“Nothing.” Rhodes deadpanned.

Looking up from my seat on the couch, I could see Rhodes just not giving Tony any sort of slack.

“Come on, sour patch.” Tony teased. “Don’t be mad.”

“I told you, I’m not mad. I’m indifferent, okay?” Rhodes replied.

“I said I was sorry.” Tony argued. Oh, of course, because that means something from him.

“Good morning, Mr. Stark.” The black haired attendant greeted. Tony didn’t like name tags, and the attendants were different every flight (so I was told).

Tony grinned at her.

Rhodes dropped his papers on the table. “You don’t need to apologize to me. I’m your man.”

“Hi. I told him I was sorry, but he...” Tony waved his hand, as if it explained everything.

I rolled my eyes, going back to my papers. 

“I’m just indifferent right now.” Rhodes went on.

“Hot towel?” The attendant asked. 

Tony took one, half ignoring Rhodes. “You don’t respect yourself, so I know you don’t respect me.” Rhodes spoke.

“I respect you.” Tony shrugged. I know he actually did, but that was just annoying.

“And you haven’t respected Becky since she was born.” Rhodes added.

“Thanks for that.” I voiced. “Thanks for dragging me into that.”

“I’m just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed.” He respectfully waved the attendant away. I soon followed. “Thank you. Let me know and I’ll get you a bottle, okay?”

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Tony brushed off. “Becky’s the one under the drinking age.”

“Which means I don’t get drunk, which means I have no reason to need a babysitter.” I argued. “Unlike you, Mister  _ Driving-Over-The-Speed-Limit _ .”

“Hey! Heat up the sake, will you?” Tony  asked to the blonde attendant, before turning to me. “Thanks for reminding me.”

“That is  _ not  _ what I meant.” I commented, though I knew he wasn’t listening. 

“No, I’m not talking...” Rhodes sighed, looking awestruck that Tony was still this stupid. “We’re not drinking. Becky’s too young, and we’re working right now.”

That was the point I brought the reports up to my face, trying to hide from the craziness I found myself in.

Rhodes was still going though. “It’s too irresponsible.”

“It’s not irresponsible. I’m just talking about a nightcap!” Tony excused.

“Nightcaps happen  _ at night _ !” I corrected.

“Hot sake?” The blonde attendant offered.

“Yes. Two please, and a soda for the kid.”

“I’m not a kid.” I argued.

Though my voice was again ignored.

 

==NM==

_ One Hour Later _

 

The boys were on the couch now, getting their ‘nightcaps’. Tony had the clubs lights on, as well as the loud hip hop music. I would have honestly preferred to have packed headphones, at least then I could pretend I wasn’t in a strip club with my bio-dad.  _ And that is the most disgusting sentence I have ever thought. _

Rubbing the bridge of my nose to fight off my now constant headache. This wasn’t what I needed to be dealing with right now. The Becky part of my personality was squirming inside of me, not liking the idea of being on this plane.

The eleven year old though, it was hard to hide this from her. I wanted to stay a kid sometimes, to hold onto what was left. I’d seen so much, and in less than a day I would go through so much more. Whenever I went Home, if for nothing than to just kill the time, I was back to acting like a stupid kid. 

Rhodes laughed over the music. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He gripped Tony’s shoulder drunkenly.

I rolled my eyes, trying to get deeper into the reports for the Jericho. If I was going to be trapped in the cave, I would need a baseline understanding of how to build the Jericho.

“When I get up in the morning, and I’m putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize?” 

“Yourself?” I remarked dryly, lifting up the report of the Jericho. Adjusting my reading glasses, I kept an eye on the measurements.

“Yeah. You know what else?” Rhodes asked. I snorted. He was such a lightweight. “I see in that mirror that every person that’s got this uniform will get my back!”

“Here we go again. I’m not like you.” Tony

“No, you don’t have to be like me. But you’re more than...yes you are.”

“Will you excuse me, I’m a little bit distracted here.” Tony gestured to the dancing attendants.

“No, you can’t be distracted right now. Listen to me!” Rhodes insisted.

Only Tony  _ was _ distracted. He always was. 

 

==NM==

 

It was  _ hot _ .

Becky, or at least her body, was used to the heat. She grew up in LA. She wore sweaters all the time. This heat was nothing.

My personality, the dominant one, hated anyplace hotter than 70 degrees. It just wasn’t  _ natural _ .

Once _ Air Stark _ had landed, Tony wasted no time before his weapons presentation. I stood off to the side behind the group of military men. Rhodes was beside me. Judging on the slight distance he was keeping from me, I had a look of pure annoyance on my face.

“Is it better to be feared or respected?” Tony began. “And I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries freedom line.”

_‘Humbly? I shocked he could pronounce that_.’ I thought, using my hand to fan myself.

“It’s the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology.  _ They _ say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree.” Tony explained dutifully. “I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once.”

I scoffed.

Rhodes smirked at my side. “You wear sweaters in LA, Beck.”

“JARVIS keeps it Antarctica cold in LA.” I countered.

“You better get used to this.” Rhodes added, teasing. “Cause you’ll be in charge of Stark Industries if something happens to your dad. Transactions like this will be commonplace.”

I threw him a  _ spare me _ glare. “With my luck, he’ll live to be ninety.” Rhodes snorted. Tony went on with his speech, though I wasn’t listening. “But, no. He’s more likely to give the company to Pepper.”

“She’ll never take it.” Rhodes stated simply. “No way. She’d beat Tony-hell I’d beat Tony-if it didn’t go to you.”

I smiled in thanks, even though I knew he’d give the company to Pepper the next movie. “I’d screw it up. The company would be in shambles in a week.” They shouldn’t put this much faith in me. All I could do, all I was good at, was helping people from behind the scenes(ish). You know, the thing I’ve been doing for nearly a century? Saying right words at the right time, pushing this person out of a bullet’s path, or getting them their crush.

In a few hours, Tony’s humvee would go up. There was no chance I was letting him go into that hell alone, so I would be at his side. There was no telling if the Ten Rings would kill me just to keep Tony Stark. Why keep the prototype when there was a finished product? There was some use in me as a hostage, but if Obadiah wanted control over Stark Industries he needed Becky _ dead _ .

It didn’t help that just as I thought this the Jericho went off.

 

==NM==

 

Tony popped open the champagne case. Before I could even reach for a glass, he pulled it out of my reach.

“We throw one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more.” Tony added to the military men.

_ Right. It was for the client’s. My bad. _

It didn’t stop Tony from having his own glass. “To peace!” He flipped open his phone, revealing the half (at least I hope it was half) naked business partner to Tony Stark.

“Tony, Rebecca.” Obadiah spoke.

“Hi Obadiah.” I greeted in a tense smile. 

“Obie, what are you doing up?” Tony teased.

“I couldn’t sleep till I found out how it went. How did it go? Did Rebecca learn anything?”

“That I don’t like the desert.” I replied dryly. “And Dad can pronounce  _ humbly _ without choking.”

Obadiah laughed.

“Yes. Spectacular acting on my part.” Tony acknowledged. I snorted, smiling at his  _ ‘I am Tony Stark and I am perfection incarnate’ _ personality. “Went great, looks like it’s gonna be an early Christmas.” Tony explained. He started walking off.

I followed, stopping when I remembered we were walking into the humvee. Looking around at the soldiers, I recognized some as the ones from the opening scene.  _ The ones that died _ ...

“Hey, way to go, my boy. And Rebecca, keep your dad’s head on straight.” Obadiah cheered. I stood mute, nodding was my only possibly response. “I’ll see you both tomorrow, yeah?”

“Why aren’t you wearing those pyjamas I got you?” Tony joked.

Okay. I’ll admit, that one made me chuckle.

“Good night, Tony, Rebecca.” Obadiah deadpanned.

Swallowing my nerves, I climbed into the humvee. Tony just behind me. I tried to hide my nerves with slow breaths.  _ Just keep Tony alive, at least until the cave. If I make it that far... _

“Hey Becky, Tony!” Rhodes called out.

“Rhodes!” I answered. The Becky part of my mind wanted him to come along. Rhodes was family to her, someone she  _ knew _ she could trust.

Tony slammed the door. “I’m sorry, this is the fun-vee.” He stated. “The hum-drum-vee is back there.”

Even behind his glasses, I knew Rhodes was looking at me. “Nice job.”

It didn’t feel like it. It felt as though I was killing every soldier in this car.

“See you back at base.” The weapons dealer took another gulp of his drink.

The Colonel walked away.

“Rhodes?” I called out, voice trembling in a break of character.

“Don’t worry about it, Becks.” My friend assured. “I’ll see you later!”

The humvee started up without another word. I couldn’t do anymore to stop it.

And you know what happened next...


	5. Chapter 04

Dad was asleep for five days.  _ Five days _ without his stupid sex jokes or any remarks about his suit. There wasn’t any nervous smiles when he thought about Pepper. No sarcastic ones when he thought about Rhodes. I can’t believe I’m missing his half jokes on being my father.  _ I want him back. _

He had been unconscious since his surgery. The only thing telling me he was alive was his rising and falling chest. His upper body was covered in wires from my electromagnet, and there were cuts all over his face.

They made me watch as they put that electromagnet in his chest. I was bound and gagged off to the side, a man holding my chin so I couldn’t look away. Dad may not remember much of it, but he wouldn’t stop screaming whenever he was lucid. It was all just panicked shouting and worried screams of my name.

It was a mercy when my own wounds took a turn. I blacked out just as Dad’s backup heart was installed.

It was odd. I woke up after the surgery to find all my cuts and bruises had faded. There had been this gash along my head, just above my left eye, and it had faded in just a few hours.

I wasn’t the only one to notice. The cameras were sure to have shown them I was healed after barely two days. Yinsen noticed when my bandages weren’t sticky with blood. I noticed while I was fixing up the car battery, wondering why I wasn’t passing out from blood loss or infection. Yinsen wasn’t ask questions, though he must know I have no idea what’s happening.

The Ten Rings had kept quiet in regards to my healing ability, only coming in for food. There was no mistaking the dark sneers of the men coming in, eyeing my dirty skirt and shirt. With the cameras, I had no privacy to change into the shorts I packed in my bag. The studious part of my brain kept bringing up honor killings and all the horror stories of girls my (physical) age.

It was just what I needed, to be honest. So I was worried about Dad, the ever present situation of being used as a sex toy by these people, worrying about keeping everyone in this cell/cave alive, and my new powers.  _ Joys of Being Me _ , an autobiography.

Around lunchtime, I was working on the designs for the Iron Man suit. It was a miracle I survived, and in case something happened to me I couldn’t leave Dad without  _ something.  _ It kept me busy. Busy stopped me from thinking about I had supernatural healing.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to get superpowers. Even when my low probability of surviving the attack, getting superpowers out of it was just ridiculous!

Yinsen went to his shaving, leaving me to make touch-ups on Dad’s the car battery. It kept me calm. It was an old battery, Dad was an old human being. 

Out of nowhere, Dad took a sharp intake of breath. My head shot up his direction, wondering if everything was finally coming back. 

Dad pulled out the wire in his nose. I flinched in disgust as he tossed it aside. He tried reaching for the stuff on the table, but knocked it back.

“This place is low on water. We can’t go spilling it.” I advised. My hands steadily handed him the cup, which he hesitantly held.

Dad looked up at me with wide panicked eyes. Not looking away, I put the mug back. He was looking down at his chest, staring at the odd contraption I helped scrap together. His hands followed to the cords from the car battery to his chest.

He was speechless, something I’d never seen from Tony Stark in person.

It was when he yanked on the cords that I intervened. “Dad, stop!” I ordered, worried. I went to his bedside, pushing him flat on his back. “Those cables are fragile. Okay? They pop out, so do you.” I explained in a borderline panicked voice.

Dad didn’t speak. He was starting to hyperventilate, probably from my ridiculous bedside manner. There goes my promising career as a doctor.

He pulled off his bandages. I sat back, not sure if I should help or not. Maybe this was a thing he needed to do on his own? I hated it, but Dad had to come to terms in his own way. 

 

==NM==

 

It turns out ‘coming to terms’ took three hours. Three extremely silent hours. It sucked as much as the five days.

Yinsen cooked stew for us. He had explained to me that the Ten Rings would give us enough provisions to survive only for another week. That meant a lot of barely digestible soup. Yinsen was a great cook, though, made it work.

I smiled gratefully.

“What the hell did you do to me?” Dad asked. He was angrily staring at Yinsen.

“What  _ I _ did?” Yinsen glanced over at me. “What  _ we _ did was to save your life.”

“We?” Dad looked over at me. I lowered my head in embarrassment. 

“I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there’s a lot left, and it’s headed into your atrial septum.” Yinsen explained.

He held his hand toward me.

“He gave me the souvenir.” I explained. I pulled the jar from my pocket, letting the little bits jingle in the air.

The translator had given it to me after Dad got out of surgery. He gave me this little speech that my father was alive, that these were the things that  _ almost _ killed him. The other pieces were kept away from his heart because of the electromagnet. Tony Stark had not died that day.

Yinsen told me that when (he stressed  _ when _ , because I needed to remember that Dad wasn’t dead) Dad woke up that I should be the one to tell him about his new injuries, his new heart.

Looking at him, at the lost look in his eyes, made it  _ difficult _ . 

I showed him the glass jar full of the things that tried to kill him. “Take a look. They’re actually kinda cool.”

Dad took the jar hesitantly. He stared at the little bits of metal. It must be scary, holding the pieces that could’ve torn him apart. 

Our roommate understood my hesitancy to explain the rest. “I’ve seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead.” Yinsen explained, voice calm. It was a much needed comfort when I  _ ‘came to’  _ and Dad was in heart surgery. “Because it takes about a week for the balls to reach the vital organs.”

Dad glanced at me for confirmation. I looked down at the stew. “What is this?” Dad went on with the pseudo interrogation.

“That is an electromagnet. Hooked up to a car battery. And it’s keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart.” Yinsen explained plainly. He gave me a reassuring smile. “Your daughter is brilliant. She built that in three minutes.”

I waved sheepishly, not thinking of it as a big deal. The overpaid mechanic zipped up his jacket, as if realizing what an intimate thing he was just leaving exposed. Dad looked up at me, as if to ask more questions, though saw the camera just behind me.

“That’s right. Smile!” Yinsen joked. He sat next to Dad, in his usual seat.

“I’m trying really hard not to look at them, and make stupid faces.” I commented, focused mainly on the food. It was either that, or think about my situation.

“We met once, you know.” Yinsen commented after a pause. “At the technical conference in Berlin.”

“Don’t remember.” Dad was starting to pant. It was all running through his head. I almost went to give him comfort, but there was a sudden  _ spike _ in my head.

My head turned to the door, able to hear the faint sounds of the Ten Rings Soldiers approaching. My hearing had jumped up since the attack. It was a saving grace the quiet of the past few days. The power came slowly, but noticeably. 

I stiffened as the footfall increased, hand again reaching for a gun that wasn’t on my hip. There was momentary panic until I remembered I wasn’t supposed to have one. This had been happening a lot.

“No, you wouldn’t.” Yinsen snorted. “If I had been that drunk, I wouldn’t have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on _ integrated circuits. _ ”

“Where are we?”

There was a loud pounding on the door. I stood straighter, brushing off any of the dust from my skirt. Dad was panicking on his cot, glancing to the door. My mind was blaring, telling me my dad was in trouble. For a moment, I thought I saw my hands glow. They couldn’t have, so I ignored it.

“Come on, stand up.” Yinsen immediately got Dad up. “Stand up.”

I walked up next to Dad, keeping my hands by my sides. They clenched into fists anxiously.

“Do exactly as I do.” Yinsen advised. Us Starks stayed frozen in fear. “C’mon, put your hands up.”

I raised my hands, positioning them above my head. It was a horrible position, cause it forced my breasts up in the already ruined shirt. If it wasn’t so real, I might’ve made a joke.

“Those are my guns.” Dad breathed. “How did they get my guns?”

“Not the time, Dad.” I hissed. “Just do it like he said!”

‘Welcome Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.’ He preached. With each word, he came closer and closer to us. I tried to keep my head down.

“He says: ‘Welcome Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.’” Yinsen translated. It was a bit redundant, since I learned the language ages ago.

Dad kept a tight lipped face at that. It was what he’d always done when accused of this shit.

“He is honored.” Yinsen translated again. I tried to tune the other man out, so I could focus on what Yinsen was saying. “He wants you to build a missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated.”

The man held up the photo. “This one.”

Dad smiled thinly. “I refuse.”

While the terrorists grinned darkly, I ignored the pit in my stomach.

 

==NM==

 

They shoved my head under the water, forcing me to stay down even as I screamed.

When I was pulled up, I heard Dad suffering the same fate.

 

==NM==

 

It could’ve been hours later, it could’ve been minutes, hell it might have been days. They dragged us away from the waterboarding room towards the sunlight.

I hated this white shirt, though it was now a murky gray from the dust and water mix. My hair clung to my neck in a sweaty heap, and I’m sure the skirt was filled with tears now. Even those cute glasses Pepper had gotten me were broken. I could still see, the glasses were for reading anyway. I’d just need a new pair if I got back.

The bag was pulled off my head. There were definitely some strands of my hair ripped with it. I fought not to cry at the harshness of when they came off. The pain was gone in a blink, as was the choked feeling in my throat. 

When I opened my eyes, I was hit with too much sunlight. It took some time to adjust, but when I did I saw Dad with the car battery. It had been more dangerous for him to get that treatment, cause if that car battery shorted out...

My head started making the necessary blueprints for the arc reactor.

Hesitantly, I looked out at the small weapons depot. I had an errant thought that this was what I imagined the black market would look like. The weapons all stacked together, divided into little stalls.

They didn’t like our ogling. They shoved Dad forward, myself nearly tripping over a rock. The men guided us deeper into the camp. I stayed as close to Dad as they allowed. He stared at all the weapons, noticing with distress that all of them were labelled with the Stark logo. It made the lump in my throat that much more painful, because that was my name now too.

They stopped us about halfway into the camp. My arms were wrapped tight around my chest, worried about the still drying white top. 

I didn’t notice the man had spoken until Yinsen translated again. “He wants to know what you think.”

Dad held on tighter to the car battery. “I think he got a lot of my weapons.” He spoke in a quiet voice.

“Y-Yeah.” My throat hurt, but not as much as I thought. My voice sounded stronger than Dad’s, even though I know we were both in there for the same amount of time. Or...or maybe I was in there longer? I can’t keep my thoughts straight about that long enough to tell.

The man spoke, walking around to the other side. Dad had to be careful turning back, the car battery was looking heavier and heavier. Storyline, I wish I could’ve made something better than that.

“He says they have everything you need to build a Jericho missile.” Yinsen translated again. “He wants you to make the list of materials.”

Around us, the various other soldiers were looking our way. A few were smirking at Dad, knowing that they would get the jericho missile. Other stared at me, and with a wave of disgust I remembered why. My hands curled up tighter around my chest. Great, now I felt like throwing up.

“He says for you to start working immediately, and when you’re done, he will set both of you free.” Yinsen stated, giving a meaningful look to Dad and myself.

The man was grinning at Dad like he would keep the promise. He held out his hand, which Dad accepted with a thin smile.

“No, he won’t.” Dad stated.

“No, he won’t.” I agreed, a terrified half smile on my face.

 

==NM==

 

They gave Dad a few more days to ‘consider his options’. I was sitting in front of the new batch of stew, since our last burnt because I had forgotten to turn it off earlier. Dad hadn’t talked since we got back, and I was fine with that.

I was going to finally change into my spare outfit tonight. There was no way I could stay in this thing anymore. It was just too risky with these people. The only safe enough spot was the corner spot where Dad’s gonna build Mark One. When Dad and Yinsen are asleep, I’ll change into something more appropriate.

It’s not lost on me that I have bigger fish to fry. This was a Stark way a coping; ignoring the problem until it blows up in your face. I liked it, it felt better than worrying about Dad being killed if he kept saying no, or Obadiah taking over Dad’s company, or being forced to disgusting things before they kill me themselves. It was easier to think about changing clothes instead of asking why my injuries healed faster than Dad’s, or why the waterboarding didn’t have as an adverse effect.

It was easier to worry about something normal...then worrying about why I’m not.

“I’m sure they’re looking for you, Starks.” Yinsen comforted. My mind immediately flashed to Rhodes. He must have half the military looking for us right now. The other half is keeping Pepper from coming over here. “But they will never find the two of you in these mountains.”

_ Thanks for the morale boost, Yinsen. We really appreciate your support _ .

“Look…What you just saw...that is your legacy, Stark. Those are the shoes Becky will fill for you one day.” Yinsen stated.

Dad looked off, uncomfortable. I couldn’t look at either of them. I hadn’t given much though to running the company, although some of Becky’s memories told me she had given  _ a lot _ of thought into it. She was really determined to change the labels her forefathers had put on the company, to get reporters (like the one Dad slept with the other night, whose name escapes me again) to change their views on it.

Great, now I have to deal with  _ that _ .

“Your life’s work in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out?” Yinsen asked Dad.

Neither of us could find anything to say.

“Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark?” Yinsen challenged. “Or are you going to do something about it?”

“Why should I do anything?” Dad argued. “They’re gonna kill me, you, Becky...either way, if they don’t, we’ll probably be dead in a week.”

“I’d be surprised if we made it past tomorrow.” I commented, stirring the stew dejectedly.

“Well then... this is a very important week for you, isn’t it?” Yinsen stated.

Dad smirked at him.

It was about then that I realized I’d been calling him Dad since the accident.


	6. Chapter 05

It was barely morning when Dad agreed to work with them. 

They had come in, armed to the teeth. It had been panicking, as they stormed in just after Dad woke up. I’d had trouble sleeping, so I wasn’t too startled when the Ten Rings came.

Sleep was the furthest thing from my mind last night. After realizing I had been calling him  _ that _ , I kept forcing myself from the sudden habit. There was this impulse in my head, pulling me towards calling him Dad. I couldn’t get attached again. It always hurt when I got attached. Why was I letting myself get attached?

I mean, after all this, if we ever manage to kill Obadiah, I wouldn’t mind spending a couple of extra months with a fath-

No. No! That’s exactly the kind of thing I am trying not to do! I didn’t need a father! None of the others I had ever worked out! Most of them hated me, died, or think my jumping reality powers as ‘ _ ungodly’ _ . The great Tony Stark, if I let myself  _ care _ , would be another in a string of disappointments.

So why was my subconscious pushing me the other way? Have we not suffered enough?

The three of us were starting up the production of the Arc Reactor. They had me carrying Tony’s ( _ Dad’s _ ) car battery. It was just on the edge of what I. Hold handle, I pushed through because I did not want to see Tony ( _ Dad!) _ like that again.

Storyline dammit, all these pronoun changes are giving me a headache. 

“If this is gonna be my workstation, I want it well lit, I want all of these tools.” Dad ( _ TONY)  _ gave the terrorists a list of his tools.

Some of them were wild ones, that Dad ( _ T-O-N-Y! _ ) put on just to delay them. I had told him this morning that if we went through with this, I guessed we had three months before completion. We have to give the Ten Rings what they wanted for three months.

“Welding gear, I don’t care if it’s acetylene or propane.” He listed, as Yinsen rushed to translate. “I need a soldering station, I need helmets, I need goggles, I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools.”

I had to fight the growing need to call Tony Stark my father for three months.

 

==NM==

 

The night everything went wrong was the night that we ‘celebrated’ a month of capture.

They gave Stark (Ton- _ DAD _ ) the tools he needed. While he was working on the Arc Reactor, I continued working on his Iron Man suit plans. It gave me as little contact with Dad as possible.

There had been no improvement the past month with my mental state. My mind kept going back and forth, like a bad game of Pong. I started to call him Stark in my mind, trying to keep farther distant. 

Aside from that, the  _ Iron Man _ plans were going well. I was still working out how much metal we would need for the suit. The thirteen missiles we were breaking down for palladium would have enough (but only for brief usage).

Stark was arm’s deep inside it, prying it apart for the piece that mattered. I was keeping the missile steady. We didn’t want any accidents right now. Yinsen stood beside the table, simply watching the father and daughter work together.

That sentence made me want to smile.

“How many languages do you speak?” Stark asked Yinsen, trying to start up a conversation.

“A lot. But apparently not enough for this place.” Yinsen admitted. “They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian.”

“Arabic, Japanese, Esperanto, and Afrikaans.” I commented, keeping my eyes locked on the missile.

“Seriously?” Stark replied, casually. There was a loud  _ clunk _ as he pulled out the wiring from the inside.

I nodded. “Some I learned for school, others cause I had time to kill.” There was also Squirrel, but I didn’t feel like that one needed to be shared.

Stark smirked at me before lowering the wiring to the table. “Who are these people?” Stark focused on Yinsen. 

“They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves The Ten Rings.” Yinsen explained simply.

Anyone could see a flash of pain in Dad’s eyes when Yinsen explained this. The two of us knew the implications. Running through his mind must be everything he’d signed for Stark Industries. Somewhere along the many lines, there were requests to send the weapons here. That reporter was right, we had unknowingly been working both sides.

But Stark’s weren’t ones to stay down when kicked.

Dad continued to dig for the palladium, while I started to cut apart the shells. It was easy enough to start piling up the scrap metal, preparing it for when Dad could work on it without worrying about the limited mobility of the car battery.

It was barely ten minutes later when Yinsen continued a conversation. Tony was drilling into the second missile, while I was working on another. Despite what I felt, Stark blood was running in my veins right now. This was my problem as much as it was his.

“You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process?” The translator commented.

“Aha.” Stark agreed, not stopping his drilling. 

“Mhm.” I replied, doing the same thing. Soon enough all it need was a good whack with a hammer.

Twenty minutes later, Tony was picking the tech apart with a fine tooth comb. I was across from him, salvaging what I could.

“Okay. We don’t need this.” Stark tossed the large ornate contraption over his shoulder. It shattered like a child’s legal set. 

“What is that?” Yinsen asked from beside us. He hadn’t done much. Not because he didn’t want to, more because us Starks had unknowingly become a tight knit duo.

“That’s palladium, 0.15 grams.” He paused when I placed down another strip. “Make that .3, thank you Becky.”

“No problem, Dad.” I went over to collect the broken bits of that contraption. Any bits of metal were useful for the Iron Man.

“We need at least 1.6, so why don’t you go break down the other ten.” Dad instructed.

“Be sure to give me the scrap!” I added, carrying the two contraptions to our ‘for later use’ pile.

If Yinsen smirked at the two of us, I pretended not to notice.

 

==NM==

 

Hours later, the three of us collected enough palladium to make the core.

I stepped into the role of assistant, handing Stark any parts he needed before he asked for them. It wasn’t even any of my knowledge, it was all from previous experience with tech. It felt  _ good  _ to build again, even if I wasn’t the one actually building it.

Except right now, as I pulled the melted palladium out of the fire. I carefully walked over towards the work station.

“Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this.” He instructed, sounding like a father who just gave the car keys to a teenager.

“Relax, I’ve got steady hands.” Came my calm reply. ‘ _ It comes with police training.’  _ Keeping my arms steady, along with my breathing, I kept a slow pace. “Why do you think you’re still alive, huh?” I teased, giving him a quick smirk.

Tony gave one back. Though he went back to focusing on the palladium.

After another few slow steps to the table, I made sure the cup was level with the mold before pouring it in.

Behind me, the men were casually talking.

“What do I call you?”

“My name is Yinsen.”

“Yinsen. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“Done.” I let out a relieved breath, putting the tools aside.

They were looking on in pride.

Once it cooled, Stark pulled out the metal ring to attach it to his reactor.

The two of us new this was a temporary thing. After I did some calculations, I saw it would last for  _ maybe _ two months. That would all the time we had to get home to Malibu, then build a new reactor core.

Until then, there was going to be a lot of pain. There had to be another element out there we could he instead of palladium, there had to be. If we kept using that, for too long, then metal would be poisoning him.

Stark knew this, he knew that  _ I  _ knew this, I knew that he knew that I knew, even without speaking. He had just flicked his eyes at mine earlier in the month, when we first started opening the missiles to get the palladium, and there was an unspoken agreement.  _ ‘We fight this, no matter the cost.’ _

It was with a bit of pride that world darkened and the reactor lit up bright blue, in the familiar traditional  _ IronMan _ design. I hardly noticed the darkened setting, staring at the reactor in observation.

For two months, this would be Tony’s heart. In Story knows how many months, Tony would use this to defeat Obadiah Stane.

“That doesn’t look like a Jericho missile.” Yinsen pondered. When he had walked up behind us was any man’s guess.

“That’s because it’s a miniaturized arc reactor.” I chimed in. The sides of my lips turning up in pride.

“I got a big one powering our factory at home.” Stark added. He tapped the side of small yet powerful device. “It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart.”

“But what could it generate?” Yinsen pressed.

I pulled myself away. Even in the dark, I could find my workstation. “If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second.” Stark replied easily.

The translator stared at us in shock. “That could run your heart for fifty lifetimes.”

“Yeah. Or something big for fifteen minutes.” Stark alluded.

As Yinsen gawked, I brought over the papers. “This is our ticket out of here.” 

“What is it?” Yinsen asked when the lights went back up. Tony was looking on in curiosity, as I hadn’t showed him the design yet. 

“Flatten them out and look.” I instructed, a huge smile across my face.

Stark did so.

The designs for the bulky Mark One was illuminated. They were a bit more elegantly drawn than Stark’s, with what little little additions I could add

“Oh, wow. Impressive.” Was Yinsen’s input.

I turned to the man who hadn’t spoken. “And...?”

Stark was still gazing down at the designs. His eyes flickered up at me. He reached his hand up, giving my shoulder a quick squeeze.

It was a small gesture, but it told me he was  _ proud _ .

 

==NM==

 

It was a lot faster to trade the car battery for the arc reactor. There wasn’t any terrorists breathing down my neck. Yinsen was acting doctor with me as the nurse.

Stark was awake this time, that was a bit stressful. I forced myself to tune out any of his pained grunts or wheezes. Each one was small, yet my ears heard trumpets sounding.

Before it could sink in, he had a new heart.

 

==NM==

 

That brought us to our first month celebration.

Yinsen pulled out a board for backgammon. It still had dice, but we had to scrounge up some loose nuts and bolts for pieces.

They offered to play a game with me, but I opted out. I jokingly said ‘you play your old man game’, which made Tony argue with how he  _ ‘was voted as one of the hottest bachelors in the world, in the WORLD, Becky.’ _ My reply of ‘you know what they call bachelors? Single guys over thirty’ made Tony accept defeat.

Again, if Yinsen was smiling in amusement, I ignored it.

I was off to the side, nervously awaiting for the terrorists to march in. In the meantime, my mind wandered. What was Pepper up to right now? Was she shouting at Rhodes? Was she walking aimlessly around the house, the lab? What about Rhodes? He was probably searching the whole desert for us, feeling guilty for letting us take the ‘fun-vee’.

A quick glance at the backgammon board brought a small chuckle from me. ‘ _ Oh yeah, we were having a party up in here.’ _

Watching Stark roll the dice reminded me of the last time I saw that. He had asked me to blow on them, in front of all those people, after I had accepted his award for him.

Had that really been a little over a month ago? It felt fresh still, as if I had blinked in the casino and suddenly I was in a cave.

Last time he had been given an award he didn’t want. Was the reactor a more valuable prize? Was it the completion of my designs? Either way, I felt more pride towards him.

It made me feel so guilty, for fighting the urge to call him  _ Dad _ . He was an absent father, I’m not going to ignore that, but in the past month he was  _ trying _ . Shouldn’t I at least be doing the same?

“You still haven’t told me where you’re from.” Stark acknowledged, breaking up the quiet air. It was a private conservation, so I stayed out of it.

The translator smiled fondly. “I’m from a small town called Gulmira. It’s actually a nice place.”

“Got a family?” Stark added on.

“Yes, and I will see them when I leave here.” Yinsen skirted around the question. It made my chest ache. This man had lost everyone, accepting death easily as one accepts the sun rise. “And you, Starks?”

The air tensed. There was a heavy lump in my throat, thinking about the grandparents I never really met. 

“It’s...it’s just Becky over there.” Stark admitted. “But...we aren’t close.”

Yinsen’s eyes twinkled in thinly veiled disbelief. “So you’re a man who has everything and nothing.”

I threw him a warning glare. He was doing it to get on our nerves, to push us to realize we had been  _ ‘close’ _ all month. If Tony couldn’t get with Pepper in five years, how could we bond as family in five  _ days _ ?

 

==NM==

 

The tense question killed the fun of the game. The three of us immediately began building the Mark One. The void of conversation kept bringing me back to my identity crisis.

It didn’t help that I had to stay close to Stark, attaching wires and metal around him to build the suit. If he ever wondered how I was getting out, he never asked. 

We had barely gotten the leg finished when they came in.

Rasa came in, his horse of soldiers behind him. I tended where I stood. I had hidden the leg behind a table, along with other obvious bits. 

The leader focused on myself and Stark. “Relax.” Rasa ordered in a calm voice.

_ I couldn’t. _

My arms lowered to my sides. Stark’s as well.

The leader walked forward, poking at Stark’s chest to reveal the glowing blue reactor. “The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology.”

He stalked over to the large open missile behind us. I was planning to use the metal there for Stark’s arms. “It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire.”

Rasa gave Becky’s biological father a calculating glance. Stark managed to keep a neutral expression.

“But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands.” Rasa lifted some of mine and Tony’s designs. He was better with weapons than I was, so Tony got free range on them. “And soon, it will be my turn.” He moved his dark calculating eyes towards mine.

I kept my gaze level with the terrorist leader. If Tony Stark could stand up to him, so could I. He was  _ not _ going to beat me.

If anything, he saw my courage as humorous. Rasa gave me one more darkly heated stare before moving to glare at my father.

‘Why have you failed me?’ Rasa asked Yinsen, not looking away from Dad.

The old translator kept up a cool mask. ‘We’re working. Diligently.’ He responded.

‘I let you live.’ Rasa added. I kept my breathing steady. This is no time to panic. ‘This is how you repay me?’ He asked, implying his kindness had worn out.

‘It’s very complex. They’re trying very hard.’ Yinsen excused.

Of course, I made the mistake of nodding in agreement. It hadn’t occurred to me at that point that they didn’t know I understood. My nonverbal response gave that away. 

It made the dark glint in his eyes turn into a blazing fire.

‘On her knees.’ Rasa ordered. When I translated that I tensed up, as Yinsen did the same. 

Two men walked Yinsen back over. I couldn’t risk them hurting Dad so I let them take me back towards the anvil.

“What are they doing?” Dad asked Yinsen. The nerves in his voice betraying his neutral exterior.

‘You think I’m a fool?’ Rasa spoke to Yinsen. He stared coldly at me. I refused to be shaken by him. I’ve fought bigger than him. ‘I’ll get the truth.’

‘We are us three working.’ I stuttered out. My spoken Arabic was rusty. It was always worse when I was anxious. Dad was blatantly staring, as he never heard me speak Arabic before. ‘Diligently.’

Now, I thought this was a nice good political response. Rasa did not agree. All it did was piss him off, if anything. He turned to us, revealing a burning red hot coal.

‘Open your mouth.’ Rasa ordered.

My mouth wouldn’t comply. It was an odd feeling, cause I’d had an urge to run my mouth. The two men holding me began pushing my head down towards the anvil. 

“What does he want?” Dad pressed.

‘You think I’m a fool?’ Rasa asked.

‘Of course not!’ I defended. 

‘What’s going on? Tell me the truth.’ Rasa ordered.

I looked to Yinsen, begging him to keep Dad out of this. When he gave a small nod I looked back to Rasa. ‘We’re building your Jericho.’ I stated quickly, barely keeping myself from panicking.

‘The truth.’

‘We’re building your Jericho.’

‘The truth!’

‘We’re building your Jericho!’

“What do you want? A delivery date?” Dad asked, stepping forward.

The terrorists all raised their weapons at him. Dad stepped back, but didn’t stand down. 

“I need her.” Dad stated firmly. I felt my heart beating fiercely in my chest as his words.  _ ‘He...he needed me?’  _ “Good assistant.”

There was a long stretch of silence. My mind spun. Two hours ago he could barely admit we were family. Two hours ago  _ I  _ could barely admit we were family.

“And him?” Rasa asked, meaning Yinsen.

“Him too, yeah. Good translator. Both of them.” Dad went on. “I need both of them.”

Rasa stared at Dad for a long time. “You have til tomorrow to assemble my missile.”

Dad stared back, giving a silent agreement.

The terrorists began walking out, with Rasa at the end of the pack. The two holding me down practically shoved me away, marching out to the others.

“Okay? Can you move?” Dad immediately asked, barely after 

I nodded. My hands were shaking, my knees too. I let out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding. “I’m good.”

“Okay, say it again.” Dad instructed, as he carefully held me up to my feet. One hand took hold of my wrist, gently. The other held up my elbow. His eyes scanned my head, trying to find any blemish they might have caused.

“I’m good.” I repeated, smiling as I really meant it.

I gave a fierce glare to Rasa as he walked out.  _ ‘You’re not touching anyone in the cave.’  _ For a moment, my eyes felt warm like someone had shined a light into them, but it was gone in a blink.

He must have seen something. Though what exactly, I couldn’t say just yet.

He only spoke three words. Those three words ended up changing everything for me.

‘Take the girl.’ 

I was gratefully Dad was holding my hand, if only to stop the shaking. My already shaky knees turned into rubber as I heard it. Yinsen seemed just as cautious. The two of us exchanged a panic exchange.

The terrorists closest to me grabbed hold of my shoulders, not even caring that Dad had been holding my wrist. 

“Let her go. Hey, hey! Let her go-” Dad began to shout. Yinsen had to hold my father back, though I could see that the translator hated having to do so.

‘I need to build your Jericho!’ I shouted at him. The two terrorists continued to drag me out of the cave, not listening to Dad’s panicked cries behind me or Yinsen’s. ‘Why are you doing this?’

‘We are going to control Fate.’ Rasa stated ominously.


	7. Chapter 06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay this chapter IS a bit dark. I’m sorry if anyone is hurt or angry about this.  
> Trigger warning: Child harm

They put a bag over my head. It made me remember when Dad and I were first brought here. The tape they sent to Obadiah. The bag smelled like old shit. Loose sand rubbed against my face. My feet were tripping over various rocks and ditches so I had to avoid those. It was easier because I being dragged across them by two Ten Ring soldiers.

To keep myself from panicking, I thought back to my training at the FBI Academy. They trained us for hostile situations like this. It’s saved my ass more than once. My heart beat was making an echo in my head. 

Obadiah was getting his ass kicked if I ever made it out of here.

If not, well then my ghost would kick his ass.

After five minutes of walking, they moved me into a new room. I was pushed onto my knees. The skirt hiked up, exposing my knees to the harsh dirt. My knees stung with fresh cuts. The guards around him were glaring at me. Their guns were all aimed at me. I kept myself silent. Adrenaline started going through me, preparing for a fight if need be.

The burlap sack was pulled off my head. When my eyes adjusted to the lamplight, I found myself in the room Tony and I’s random video had been made. This time, Raza was standing in front of the Ten Ring carpet and I stood where the camera had been.

Raza eyed me.

“So many accomplishments, for a girl your age.” Given the context, that wasn’t a compliment. “Not many fathers around here would allow their daughters to learn as you have. Your father should be proud. You are so alike, and yet such opposites. You are an enigma, Rebecca Stark.”

Okay  _ that _ felt a bit more like a threat. 

He seemed on edge. His fists were clenching on his sides. His nerves were spread throughout his team. Their fingers itches over triggers, watching me with all the cautiousness of a caged animal about to let loose. 

“The history of the fates is a long one.” Raza spoke. It was best to give him any advantage. My focus stayed on the dirt in front of me, refusing to look anywhere else. “There are the Norns of Norse mythology. The Morgana, from the Greeks and Romans.”

I paled, freezing in my escapes and staring in shock at the dirt. It wasn’t the first time I had heard my name outside of Home. Something about that name...it struck a cord.

Raza grinned darkly at me. “You’ve heard of them, I take it.”

“Greek history class.” I lied, schooling my features to a cool mask. “Extra curricular for my degree-”

“It is pointless to lie to me.” Raza stated. “I could kill your father and that other one with a single word.”

My lips closed. He grinned darkly. It was jarring to hear my real name here, especially when it was from Raza. How could he possibly even have a hint at my name? The only people who had been close were psychics, or wise old men. It’d never been men with the desire to kill.

Yet hearing it again, a switch flipped in my head. Becky Stark took a step back, Morgan the ninety seven year old took control. The fearful glint in my eyes was replaced with cold steel.

“The Morgana are said to be three immortals who control fate.” Raza began. I kept my eyes forward. “One to create life, one to decide the length of your life, and one to cut the thread.”

As he spoke, he walked to my side. When he said the word  _ thread  _ his fingers lifted a strand of my hair. I jerked my head back, out of his reach. It was a dangerous move.

“I’ve got a thing about people touching my hair, okay?” I warned him, using some of my hidden Stark charm.

Rasa only smiled patronisingly.

“Why would Islamic terrorists care about Greek philosophy?” I tried instead, straining the bindings.

“Bring in the child.”

It was a little girl, dressed in dirty brown Afghan robes more akin to rags. One of the men shoved her to her knees, another loaded his gun.

**_No._ **

“What are you doing?” I growled, looking back and forth from Raza and the girl.

“It was brought to my attention.” Raza replied, talking on as if he hadn’t heard me. “Yes, Mister Stark’s contributions will help our war efforts, but having _ fate _ on our side will put us on the fast track.”

“Okay. Fine. You’ll have fate on your side.” I lied. “But why take the girl?”

Raza chuckled. “The powers of fate were said to be hidden in one of her chosen, beneath layers and layers of your humanity. Only an extreme sacrifice will bring out the Morgana inside you.”

_ Extreme Sacrifice... _

The little girl’s pleading brown eyes looked up into mine.

I looked back to the little girl. She was scared, her hands shaking while a man had a gun to her head.

**_NO!_ **

“You’ve heard her whispering in your ear, haven’t you?” Rasa stated.

I ignored him, focusing on the little girl. She was staring at me with soaked eyes, her nose leaking all over her jaw. The little girl was making quiet whimpers, as if she had been crying for ages and still couldn’t stop. 

“That little voice, some would call one’s conscience.” Rasa added. My throat clenched. “It’s th

There  _ had  _ been something in my head, pushing me to call Tony  _ Dad _ . That couldn’t be what he meant, right?

Oh.

He was talking about  _ me _ .

A terrorist held a machine gun at the child’s held, cutting off my thoughts.

My amber eyes glared up at his. “Put your guns down.” I warned.

Raza quirked an eyebrow. “Or what?”

“Or I put you down.” I finished.

_ ‘What the hell was I saying?’ _ I thought.  _ ‘I can’t do anything if they kill her. They’ll just kill me too.’ _

There was a child’s life at stake.

I would do anything I needed to.

“Put them down.” I repeated, determined to keep this unknown girl safe.

But Raza knew he would win. He knew which buttons to press to make me jump. 

_ “Ready.” _ He told his soldiers in Arabic.

Half of them aimed at the girl, the other half stayed on me. 

“Put them  **down** !” I snapped in desperation. My body reacted in turn. In a flash I was on my feet.

_ “Prepare to fire.” _ Raza challenged me. The rifles cocked. Raza made a small motion to halt them.

The little girl was letting out scared whimpers. I glared fiercely at the leader. He was  _ grinning _ smugly. “Why are you doing this? What the hell do I have to do with this?”

He gave me a humoring look. “With Tony Stark, we can win this war with his weapons. With fate, we can decide where those weapons go.” The terrorist smugly leered at me. “We should be getting started.”

Raza raised his hand, about to give the signal to fire.

With a force I didn’t even know I had, I stomped my foot into the dirt. _“_ ** _Put them down.”_** I ordered in Arabic. My voiced echoed in the room. The words vibrated in my bones, from the shivers of the terrorists I guess they felt the power in the words too.

_ “No.” _ Raza replied easily.  _ “You are too used to your Western ways. Here,  _ I _ am in charge. We will show you.” _

My hands burned with blue energy, blazing like fire. I moved inside me, like a living thing. It brought out my rage. It’s motives were my own. It was an extension of myself.

“ **_PUT THEM DOWN!_ ** ”

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

The last thing I remember was her warm blood splattering on my face.

Then the fire  **_burned._ **


	8. Chapter 07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of suicide. Self harm. Just a caution. If it’s not your cuppa tea, then you can just skip this chapter.  
> If you thought the last chapter was dark...watch me prove you wrong.

Tony was losing his mind.

They had been locked up in that place for five hours, with no word on Becky. He wouldn’t work without her there. Sure, Yinsen was a good assistant, but Tony had to admit it was fun working with Becky.

Yinsen had said something that kept playing over in Stark’s head.  _ ‘That is your legacy. Those are the shoes Becky will fill for you one day.’ _ He didn’t want selling weapons to terrorists to be that, to have the Stark name associated with that, and he didn’t want that on Little Beaky Becky’s shoulders.

Tony realized it had been the first time he had called her that since she was six.

He wasn’t the nostalgic type, or the whole  _ lovey dovey _ thing. His mom wanted him to watch Becky, to keep her safe, and he can’t even do that. Tony agreed to bring her into the Middle East, what had he been thinking? What father in their right mind brought their daughter to Afghanistan? For a  _ weapons _ deal?

He didn’t know she could speak Arabic, or that she was good with tech. Tony didn’t know a thing about his daughter. She had been growing without her father...like he had. Tony swore he’d never turn into his father; workaholic who never cared about spending time with his kid. What had happened?

So when they finally brought her back in, he knew he had to be a better father.

They carried her in half dead. They just dropped her on the closest cot then vanished like ghosts.

Her nose was leaking a trail of blood. Her skin, already a bit pale from so long in a cave, was a gross sick grey. Her black and white outfit was half burnt, half blood soaked. There were holes in the shirt that looked a lot like bullet holes. Tony bet that this was what he looked like before Becky gave him a fake heart.

Tony didn’t like any of it. It was just the sort of  _ ‘punch in the face _ ’ stuff he hated. 

“She’s hurt.” Yinsen reminded. He brought over some cloths. He gave them a few drops of water, cleaning the dirt and blood off her face. “We must find where .”

“...blood’s not mine...” Becky mumbled.

Tony didn’t believe that. There was too much blood, for one. She was only twenty, how could she have overpowered any of these guys enough to draw blood?

 

==NM==

 

Becky was only getting sicker. She was way too pale, and her hair was always stuck to her forehead in a constant cold sweat. She was throwing up any food she ate, then retching when she had nothing left.

Tony was doing his best to help her. He was keeping her cool, he made her eat, he made her sleep, Tony even changed her clothes to a spare outfit she had hidden in her bag.

More than that, the girl was delirious half the time. She kept muttering about fate, and every now and then Tony heard her say  _ ‘not Morgan’ _ .

He was worried about her. For the first time in Tony didn’t know how long, he was worried about his daughter. He didn’t want her to die. Not here. Not  _ anywhere _ , actually. 

Tony...Tony cared about her. He cared about his daughter. He could still remember the kid that ran into the house, screaming about bugs before building  _ computer _ bugs.

Yinsen had tried to help where he could. Whenever Tony was working on the suit, then Yinsen was watching over Becky. Tony hated that the suit was pulling him away, but if he didn’t finish it then they wouldn’t get out of this hellhole.

As he continued to hammer out the necessary metal, he kept a watchful eye on Becky and Yinsen.

She groaned painfully from her cot. Tony swore he would do better, once they were home.

 

==NM==

 

Waking up  _ physically hurts _ .

I’d made jokes about it, this time it was  _ true _ .

Every part of me was sore. Some parts weren’t just sore, they felt broken. A lot of my body felt numb with pain. Looking down at my body, I saw I was wearing different clothes, which I think was most confusing.

My grunts and groans of pain brought Yinsen over. Or...a blurry version of him. My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the dark of the cave yet.

“It is good you woke up. We were beginning to lose hope. Your fever finally broke this morning.” Yinsen explained, dabbing my forehead with a wet cloth. “You’ve been in and out for two days. It was looking less likely that you would recover.”

That was startling to hear, that I could’ve been on my deathcot. 

“My...shirt.” Was my stupid pant of a reply.

Yinsen smiled fondly. “Your father saw it fit to get you into new ones. Your old one was...”  _ Torn? Sweaty? Bloodstained? _ “...it had it’s time.”

I let out a dry chuckle. I tried to glance over to where I had left the suit.

Dad was staring at me in shock. It was concerning. I’d not seen him like that in my entire time in this world.

“You...look...like crap.” I choked out.

The man laughed in disbelief. He walked over, stopping at a distance that felt awkward. “So do you. Guess it’s...a Stark thing.”

My chest hurt too much, so I should avoid laughter, but I gave Dad a wide smile. “No. Stark’s never look bad.”

Dad’s face scrunched up in a way I did not like. “This time we do.”

_ “You are an enigma, Rebecca Stark.” _

The memory came back in a flash. Raza, the soldiers, the little girl, all the blood, the fire,  _ gunshots _ . Pain...there had been so much pain. _ Why was everything on fire? _

There was a horrible choking noise. It took a minute to realize it was coming from me.

“Becky, Becky it is alright.” Yinsen calmly assured. He brushed some of my matted hair off my forehead.

“No it’s not!” I shouted. With my panic rising, I shoved Yinsen away. The man was pushed far enough back that I could stand. I rushed to another area to avoid Dad and Yinsen-

_ No he wasn’t Dad! How did we forget that? _ The sudden conflict was giving me a headache.

“Becky. Hey kid, come back! There’s a lot of dangerous-those are sharp things!” Tony _ -Dad- _ Tony _ -Dad _ \- called out.

I was close to the firepit, where I had nearly swallowed a burning bit of metal. I grabbed a random piece of scrap. It was sharp. Sharp enough, I hope.

“Whoa. Becky, let’s not do anything  _ stupid- _ ” He warned, running over to where I was in the cave.

“I was dead.” I stated. I winced at the pain. “Dead. I  _ felt _ it.”

“Becky put that down before you hurt yourself!”

“I ALREADY HAVE!”

Dad watched as I sliced my arm again. There was a slight sting before the injury healed in a quick blink. There was no cut, no bruises, not a single drop of blood.

Dad walked up to me, taking hold of my arm. He took the scrap of metal, with drops of my blood still on it, to toss it out of reach. Yinsen walked up beside him. It was good to see I hadn’t hurt him in my rush. He took my arm in his hold, scanning it for injury.

“Nothing. Not even a scar.” Yinsen observed.

“This scary to anyone else?” I asked, voice shaky. My eyes darted between my scratchless arm to the two men. “This...this isn’t right. This isn’t normal.”

_ I’m not normal...again. _

“I’m a freak.”

“Hey, let’s not talk like that okay?” Dad tried to calmly dissuade me. He kept his hands up in a defensive move, ready to grab for the metal should I try anything. “You’re just...a bit more...different.”

A beat. “That’s not helping!”

“I know. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Admitted Dad.

There was a long stretch of stunned silence. I’d never heard the great Tony Stark say that he had no idea. Sure, he looked it half the time, but he never  _ said it _ . It was startling. And I just came back from the dead and couldn’t go back from the look of it.

Dad was having similar thoughts. “Weird from me, I know. I have no idea what I’m doing. I never have.”

“What’s happening to me?” I begged, choking on tears. “Why am I like this?”

Dad was staring at me with lost eyes. He pulled me in for a hug. The tears I had been choking on unleashed on his gross shirt. “I don’t know, Beaky.”

The childhood nickname only made me cry harder.

 

==NM==

 

Hours later, things had settled.

Yinsen was setting up a meal. It smelled delicious. Though I should be, I didn’t feel hungry. The smell was filling the cave, my stomach wasn’t reacting. There was a part of me that was worried that whatever had stopped me from dying would stop me from needing to eat.

Dad was hammering out new pieces of metal. He had been tense since my episode. 

As for myself, I was staring at the plans and comparing them with the bits of the suit.

“I want to help finish the suit.” I admitted to Dad once he stopped slamming the hammer down on the metal. “It’s the closest we’ve been since...I don’t even  _ know  _ how long.”

The man stared at me in his go-to Stark nonchalance. He glanced down at the plans in my hands. “It was good working with you.”

“But?” I prompted.

“But you working on this almost killed you.” Dad explained after a long pause.

I bit my bottom lip. “No. Me being smug almost got me killed. Working on the suit’s been keeping me going in this hellhole.”

“Hey. No swearing.”

“...seriously?”

“No. No, don’t know why I said that. It sounded like a good parent thing to do. Keep doing what you were doing. Ignore me.” Instructed the clearly sleepless Dad.

I stared at the bags under his eyes. Those days I had been in and out of conscience must’ve kept him from restful sleep.

“Why did you keep me when Mom dumped me on you?” The question was out in the open before I could stop it. Never let it be said that the Stark’s had word filters.

Dad looked away from me. Not so much out of shame, oddly enough. He was avoiding the topic all together. 

Words poured out of my mouth, and I knew they came from the memories of Becky. Her usual torrid of emotions were still here, just they felt more a part of me than they did before.

“Really. Why? You were younger than I am now.” I ranted. Goddammit I just wanted to scream at _something._ To have something take my anger and _be hurt_ by it. “You could’ve shipped me off to some orphanage, or _anywhere._ You could’ve thrown me away like Mom did. You wouldn’t have had to deal with me. Not that you do much anyway, with all that time I spent in boarding school.”

“If you asked me back then, I’d tell you I wanted to show my dad that I wasn’t a screw up.” Explained Dad. “Now? I think it was that I wouldn’t end up like him.” He held up his hand. “Which I know I did. Sending you to those schools, ignoring you so I could work, hell even bringing you here. I don’t even think my dad was stupid enough to bring me to Afghanistan.”

The two of us let out bittersweet laughs. They started changing from bittersweet to relieved. The longer we laughed, the longer it looked like we wouldn’t stop.

I didn’t know that Yinsen was watching us from the side. A fond look in his eyes as he remembered his own family.

“So. The suit?” I asked again.

Dad laughed again. He shrugged, still smiling. “Alright. You can help. But if I want you to stop, you should listen.” He pointed a warning screwdriver at me.

I took it, walking over to the suit. “ _ ‘Should listen’ _ doesn’t exactly mean  _ ‘have to listen’ _ .” I cheerfully pointed out. With that, I got to work.

“Have you always been that witty?” Dad asked.

My smirk was answer enough.


	9. Chapter 08

Was it bad that I can’t really remember how long I’ve been down here? Just, after the whole incident in that cave time seemed to blur. I worked on the mock one with Dad. I don’t think I slept, but not from lack of trying. 

A distant part of me knew. It kept reminding me about that speech Dad had to write for that college. That, and my period. It was a  _ pain  _ to have your period in the burning hot summer of Afghanistan, while trapped in a dark cave, with only two boys for company.

Other things had changed. There was an unspoken agreement to never bring up what happened when I came back. That whole argument was just ignored. 

The three of us worked more  _ around _ each other than  _ with _ each other. If I finished building part of the arm, Dad immediately took it away for the suit. It was a bit of a miracle neither of us built the same part. Dad finished the face part of the helmet ages ago.

The last change was so startling that when I realized it I had to sit down. Before, Becky had been so loud in my head. After _ the incident _ , she’d been quiet. This horrible quiet that somehow made my thoughts echo in my mind. I had seen Becky everywhere before. She had been in my reflections, in every worried thought about Dad, every time I called him _ Dad _ .

Now she was gone.

If you asked me before, I’d have told you I didn’t like all the noise in my head. Now I needed to hear anything from that human. This body felt so uncomfortable without her. It was as if the body was made to fit in our two souls. With her’s missing, the body felt too big for me. 

There wasn’t time to mourn her. The Ten Rings would be here soon to take either a missile or our lives. I was the only one that knew Becky was gone. How could I explain to anyone that a part of me died without sounding all poetic?

_ ‘I promise, I’ll mourn you when we’re home.’ _

The time I would have spent mourning, was spent planning the escape. Dad’s suit would be like a battering ram for us. Dad had decided most of it would be us hiding behind the giant metal man, maybe finding a rifle to use for our own defense.  _ (Dad told me he’d rather that  _ not _ be part of the plan.)  _ Other than that, it was safer with the giant metal man. 

Once the door trap was set, we worked on the last of our plan. Yinsen and I were working on the last few things to get Dad in his suit.

“Can you move?” I asked after fitting the iron arm on him. Dad said yes.

“Say it again.” Yinsen instructed. He was lowering the chestplate. When it was in place, I made sure it was connected to the other pieces of the suit.

“Forty-one steps straight ahead.” Dad recited. The suit came together in metallic hisses. I was wrenching bolts on the small rockets on his shoes. “Then sixteen steps, that’s from the door, fork right, thirty-three steps, turn right.”

I nodded. We’d been going over that list like a first grade teacher goes over the alphabet. 

There was time for a few more calibrations. The sounds of men bounding on the door brought our small countdown clock to zero.

“Yinsen! Yinsen! Starks!” The terrorist shouted.

“Say something. Say something back to him.” Dad told Yinsen.

“He’s the Hungarian one!” I reminded him. Keeping my voice low, as the terrorists couldn’t hear me. Internally, I was hitting myself over the head for not thinking of this part. Why hadn’t I learned any Hungarian? Oh, yeah, I had Arabic, but forbid me from learning  _ one _ Hungarian word.

“I don’t speak-”

“Then speak Hungarian.” Dad insisted.

Yinsen looked down at me. It was the typical  _ ‘I am sorry you share genetics with this man’ _ stare I would get from a lot of people back in California.

“Do you know any Hungarian words?” I tried to encourage him.

Yinsen nodded, hesitance in his eyes.

“What do you know?” I asked.

The translator looked to the door. He shouted a Hungarian phrase I couldn’t translate just now. 

The terrorist shouted back, in Hungarian. 

Yinsen replied that same phrase.

The terrorists shouted angrily.

I was working on the leg attachments. There was a large explosion from the door. Instead, I whistled some of  _ Last Kiss. _

“How’d that work?” Dad asked.

“People are idiots.” I answered, adding finishing touches. 

“Oh, my goodness.” Yinsen panicked. “It worked all right.”

I snorted at his shocked face. 

“That’s my girl.” Dad complimented.

Later, when things relaxed, I’d realize it was the first time in a long time he meant it.

“Not done making you proud yet.” I reminded. Rising up from the ground, I went back to the large desk computer. “Initializing the power sequence.” I typed in the input codes. “Function eleven.”

“Tell me when you see a progress bar.” Dad instructed. “It should be up right now.”

“Just popped up.” I reported.

“Press Control  _ ‘l’ _ .” Dad instructed again.

“ _ ‘I’ _ , know what to do. It’s my suit too!” I reminded. 

Dad winced. “Right yeah, got it. Yinsen. Come over here and button me up.”

“Okay. Alright.” The translator nervously went back to building the suit around Dad.

Finishing with the computer, I put myself back down near Dad’s legs. His left was done, there was just the right. “Every other hex bolt.” I instructed Yinsen. 

“They’re coming!” Yinsen panicked, but did as instructed. 

“Nothing pretty, just get it done.” Dad tried to comfort. “Just get it done.”

“They’re coming.” Yinsen repeated. He went to the computer, checking the progress bar. 

“We know! Relax! We have plenty of time!” I lied, trying to keep the translator alive. He couldn’t die. Not now. Dad and I...I don’t like what we’d become without him. He was the best moral compass Dad ever had.

The Stark patriarch agreed with me. “Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?”

Yinsen mumbled something under his breath. I had been too long since I saw the movie to remember exactly what it was, but I knew it wasn’t good.

To prove my point, he made his way to the entrance.

“Hey.” Dad called out.

“I’m gonna go buy you both some time.” Yinsen explained. He picked a rifle up off the ground. 

“Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!” Dad shouted as the translator began firing rounds.

“Yinsen!” I shouted with him. I moved up to follow, to drag him back here.

“No you stay here!” Dad ordered.

“Dad he’s gonna die if I do nothing!” I tried to explain. 

“Then hurry up the power thingie-”

“Sequence!”

“Yes that-so we can save him!”

As much as I wanted to follow Yinsen, I knew it would kill Tony if he lost us both today. Marching to the computer, I worked at the codes to speed up the power.

The shots were still firing loudly in the hallway. It made my heart drop to my stomach to hear them suddenly stop.

“Dad...”

“I know, Beaky, I  _ know! _ Is it done?”

“No no no. YES!”

Then, the metal restraints holding him up released him. 

 

==NM==

 

More terrorists came to our cell. 

I hid behind Dad. The suit was big enough for it. 

I couldn’t see what he was doing. Only when the sounds of gunshots filled the room did I duck down to my feet, trying to find the glock that  _ still _ wasn’t on my hip. 

“You okay?” Dad called out over the gunfire.

“Mostly!” I admitted.

The gunshots stopped soon after. The terrorists crept closer inside. The suit was tough enough to knock all three of them out of commission.

I took the rifle from one of them. The strap went over my shoulder, along with some more rounds.

“No way.” Dad instantly argued. “Put it back down.”

“Save Yinsen now, have safety talk  _ later _ !” I reprimanded.

“...fine.”

Immediately the others converged. It was a mess of gunfire, metal clicking, and shouts in a dozen Middle Eastern languages.

I shot down as many as I could. They were coming from all sides. It had been  _ ages _ since I had used my field training  _ in the field. _ Still, they had no chance against two Starks.

“Bang.” I mumbled.

Another soldier fell. One more to the kill count.

“Bang, bang.” _ ‘This is why I’m never playing COD with my brothers. I’d kick their asses.’ _

It was all for nothing. I was shooting down the last of them when I backed into the hard suit. Dad had frozen around a curb.

“No!” The word came out a harsh cry. My feet took me to Yinsen.

The man was bleeding out on top of sand bags. In the opposite corner of the room, Rasa stood with a grenade launcher.

“Yinsen!” Dad and I shouted.

“Watch out!” He warmed, tiredly.

Dad pushed me back just before the grenade hit the wall. My head had been  _ right there _ .

“Hey asshole! I’m a firm believer in an eye for an eye!” I expressed.

As soon as I hit dirt, I fired a shot at Rasa’s leg. He crumbled to the ground. He didn’t give me the satisfaction of hearing his pain.

He was stumbling off. I got up to follow him when Yinsen called out for us. His voice barely heard over the blood rushing in my ears. 

“Come on. We got to go.” Dad tried to command. “Move for us, come on. We got a plan. We’re gonna stick to it.”

“I can carry you.” I tried to assure. The rifle was thrown across my back, held up Buthelezi strap. “We can-We can find gauze, and medical stuff. You’re gonna be fine.”

“This was always the plan, Starks.” Yinsen revealed. His eyes were fluttering between shut and half lidded.

“No. No. You can’t die, not now. Please!” I begged, taking hold of his calloused hand. “What about your family? They’d want to know you fought!”

“My family is dead. I’m going to see them now, Starks.” The translator clarified, to Dad and mine’s horror. My heart was breaking in my chest. I felt hot tears fall down my dirty cheeks. “It’s okay. I want this. I want this.”

I sniffled, wiping at my cheek with my free hand.

“Thank you for saving her.” Looking up at him, I saw a sincere look on his face. He was thank him for saving  _ me _ ?

Yinsen smiled, fondly. “Don’t waste it.” He glanced at me. It was a meaningful stare. The kind he would give me after I built the reactor that saved Dad. He looked back to Tony. “Don’t waste your life.”

I held his hand long after he lost his grip.

Dad had gone out. He had taken out the terrorists in the camp. I couldn’t leave Yinsen just yet.

“Thank you.” I whispered. “I’ll mourn you, and Becky. I swear. You’ll both be remembered.”

When I finally gathered the courage to leave, I found the camp in flames with Dad in he middle of it all.

“Not bad.” Was my take on it.

A terrorist came up towards me. He was shouting wildly.

In a full Harrison Ford impression, I shot him clean in the chest. I had barely blinked. The next three went the same way.

Running up to Dad, I grabbed hold in the small gaps between his arm and his chestplate. My feet rested against one of his in a parody of father-daughter waltzing. Dad wrapped an arm around my side.

It wasn’t long after his rocket feet went off that the camp went up in flames.

“Keep a low altitude!” I warned, moving the rifle into my Bag.

“I remember!” Dad shouted over the roar of the wind.

His rockets burnt out.

“Shit! BECKY LET GO!” He ordered. 

Crashing in sand hurt. It was less painful than if I had landed with Dad.

 

==NM==

 

Dad and I were wandering the desert for about a day. 

It was, quite accurately, hotter than balls out here. 

The time after our crash landing was a blur. It was too hot. My mind kept wondering why I could handle California heat with a sweater, but I can’t handle Middle Eastern heat in a ratty tank top, torn up jeans, and the Bag over my shoulder. My shoes were put together, at least, or else this sand would have burnt my feet. My wrist burned, which I thought was odd.

The helicopters came in one of my lucid moments, when sweat wasn’t covering my eyes. I could see the fuzzy shape of Rhodes in there. He was barely keeping from jumping out right there in the sky.

We cheered loudly, shouting for the helicopters to notice us.

Dad fell to his knees in relief the second the helicopter touched ground. I followed. He held up the peace sign.

“Hey!” Rhodes cheered, running over to us. He knelt down to our level. “How was the ‘fun-vee’?”

“AC...cracked.” I joked, too tired to say more.

Rhodes still laughed like it was the best joke he’d ever heard. He took hold of Dad and I’s heads. He turned to each of us. “Next time, you ride with me, okay?”

Now  _ that  _ was a good joke.

He thought we’d _ ever  _ do  _ this _ again.

 

==NM==

 

She’d laughed when she heard it was July 9th. For some reason, it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. It was funnier when she realized she hadn’t laughed for three months. 

The father and daughter were being taken back to the States without haste. 

Tony had barely listened to most of it. He had kept his attention focused on Becky. He had made a point of keeping watch of his daughter since  _ ‘the Incident which is not spoken of’ _ .

She had been checked by an on-service medic earlier. She had bruised ribs, no doubt from the crash landing. Her wrist had broken too. She was malnourished, lacking in essential vitamins, and would need to follow a special diet to get some weight back on her bones.

He was worried. He knew Pepper  _ (oh god Pepper. How long had it been? Did she think they died? Did she get a new job? Had she moved on?) _ would help keep track of Becky’s eating. JARVIS too. Rhodes was already on it. He’d given the too young girl a granola bar after her check-up.

The billionaire knew that Becky was keeping a similar watch on him. Losing Yinsen, it’d been a change. Tony had been more than ready to bring Yinsen with them. He’d been there for Becky when Tony hadn’t. That first week, when Becky needed him most, he was practically dead. He could never thank Yinsen enough for that.

She had done things no girl her age should do. Becky had cared for them both _ so much _ \- she had been ready to die in their places. Tony had seen her. She held that rifle as if she was born holding it. She’d taken down men without as much as blinking.

She had constructed a prototype miniature arc reactor in a cave, in a week. Something not even his guys back home had ever done. She’d built that suit with him. 

They were in a big plane. He thought, after months of being kept trapped in a cave with her dad, Becky would take a seat on the far side of the plane to get some privacy.

She didn’t.

She took the seat right next to him without looking at any other seat. Tony felt himself smile at that.

In the long hours of the flight, Becky had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He didn’t know how she did it, Tony couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Yinsen and the others that died in the cave.

Tony felt something light up where his reactor was when he saw Becky’s look of content. He was positive it wasn’t anything too bad, he’d have to check later to be sure. Until then, might as well let her stay. She hadn’t

If he saw Rhodes watching them, Tony didn’t call him out. 

They both needed healing. This was just the first step.


	10. Chapter 09

Rhodey knew just what I wanted to be wearing when the plane landed. He brought a bright red sweater, a white button up shirt, my nice black jeans, and a pair of black and white sneakers. It was perfect under the powerful AC in the airplane.  _ The AC _ was perfect.

The onsite doctor had checked me out. There was a small cast on my wrist, it had broken from the way I landed on it. He said it would be a few days before it could harden enough for people to sign it.

There was a time when I couldn’t see Dad anywhere. It was a horrible two minutes. He came back out with until he came out dressed in a suit, his arm up in a sling. It was a relief that nothing had happened.

He came up to me, pulling me in a one armed hug. Clearly I hadn’t been the only one distressed at the distance.

The plane had just landed. Rhodey told us Pepper was downstairs, with Happy. It made Dad and me smile. The smiles disappeared when we were told we’d have to be in wheelchairs for medical reasons. I’d never wanted to punch Rhodey until that moment. He was lucky my good punching fist was already in a cast. Dad had his own injuries, as one crashing in a metal suit was bound to have. His own wrist was broken. The medic was certain some other parts had been sprained, such as his legs and other wrist.

Once the plane landed, I waited in my designated wheelchair. Dad had told Rhodey in his usual nonchalant way to make sure I got off the plane safely. I had tried telling him I was fine, that the broken wrist was the worst of it. If anyone told him the bruised ribs were making difficult to breathe, I’d argue it was the LA air and also shut up. Still, Dad made sure Rhodey would be the one to put me back on American soil.

Despite the protests, I was guided down the ramp by Rhodey. Another soldier was helping Dad down. 

“Watch it, coming up here.” Rhodey warned. I nodded, watching my step.

There were ambulances off to the side. Four medics came over, rolling two of their stretchers. I tensed in Rhodey’s arms. I wasn’t ready to have Dad out of my sight _ that _ long.

Besides, the last time I was in a car that small it exploded.

“Are you kidding me with this?” Dad asked from Rhodey’s other side. He was on the same thought path I was. “Get rid of them.”

Rhodey agreed, shoeing the medics away.

Once that happened, rhodey was certain I had my land-legs back. Dad and I walked over to his limo, where Pepper stood vigilant.

“Your eyes are red.” Dad noted. “A few tears for your long-lost boss and his daughter?”

“Tears of joy. I hate job hunting.” Pepper lied.

“Yeah, vacation’s over.” He got right back on the high horse. No three months of nearly dying and no fake heart could keep him down!

Then again, I’m not letting it keep _ me _ down either.

_ ‘We’ll miss you, Yinsen.’ _

We all climbed in the car. Thank had gotten a limo, which was nice. There was room for me in this thing. Just the idea of going in anything smaller than this was making my clench my hands in anxiety.

I was sitting on one of the seats along the side. Dad and Pepper took the back. Once in my seat, I let out a breath of relief. We were home.

“Where to, sir?” Happy asked.

“Take us to the hospital, please, Happy.” Pepper instructed.

“No.” Dad spoke.

“No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital. _ Becky _ has to go to the hospital.” Pepper reminded.

“Can you stop using me as an excuse?” I asked.

“No is a complete answer.” Dad countered.

“The doctor has to look at the two of you.” Pepper went on.

“We don’t have to do anything.” Dad stated plainly, if a bit forcefully. “We’ve been in captivity for three months. There are two things we want to do. I want an American cheeseburger.”

“I’d like some mozzarella sticks.” I added.

“Get her those sticks. And a milkshake. What flavor?” Dad asked.

“Large chocolate. I’ve been craving chocolate this week.” I answered, albeit shyly.

“Then you’ll have it.” Dad decided. “And the other-”

“That’s enough of that.” Pepper interrupted. I winced. She never  _ did _ like any of his flings.

“-is not what you think.” Dad assured.  _ ‘Just kiss each other. One time. It’s all my little shipper heart desires. _ ’ “I want you to call for a press conference now.”

“Call for a press conference?” Pepper asked, shocked.

“Yeah.”

“What on earth for?” Pepper asked.

Dad looked at me, something on the edge of meaningful in his eyes. “Hogan, drive. Her sticks and shake first, then we get the cheeseburger.” Dad explained.

Happy just sighed. He did what Dad asked, but he did it with a sigh.

 

==NM==

 

_ ‘The memory of other milkshakes are pale in comparison to this one right here. _ ’

I imagine I was looking the full image of a Stark now. Coming in to an important press conference, dressed in a red sweater and old jeans, with a chocolate milkshake from  _ Sonic _ in one hand, and mozzarella sticks in the other.

So as a real Stark, I didn’t care what everyone else was thinking. This milkshake was too good.

The taste wasn’t even soured when Obadiah Stane walked up to the limo.

_ “...As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill the Starks has just gone up...” _

Maybe it was the thought that he tried to have Dad killed, or the image of Obadiah ripping the reactor from his pale chest, or the threat he would eventually make on Pepper’s life. Whatever the reason, I glared at him. 

Dad walked out first, followed closely by Pepper and myself. Obadiah hugged Dad, tightly. I tensed at the idea of hugging him. Instead, I stayed close to Pepper. Everyone was paying attention to Dad. Nothing out of the usual here.

“Look at this!” Obadiah cheered. The photographers flashed their cameras in rapidfire.  “Tony. We were going to meet at the hospital.”

“No, we’re fine.” Dad assured him. He was making his way through the crowd of paparazzi. He glanced back at me, to make sure I was still here. I held up my milkshake hand, giving him a thumb’s-up. He motioned me forwards with a quick bob of his head.

I don’t know what made me walk forward. Something about coming home had made Dad seem… easier to talk with. There was a bond of trust. As horrible as what happened to us was, I knew I was safer at the side of a Stark.

“Look at you!” Obadiah laughed. He was smiling at both of us. “You had to have a burger, yeah?”

“Becky needed a milkshake.” Dad corrected. He pointed back to me. I didn’t smile at him, just drinking down more of my miracle milkshake. 

Obadiah didn’t even pretend to be interested. “Well, come on.” He walked with Dad. Dad walked with me. “You get me one of those?”

“There’s only one left. I need it.” Dad excused. 

But I looked back to Pepper, to Happy, wondering for a long moment if it was too late to tell anyone about the translated video.

 

==NM==

 

The crowd cheered once we turned the corner. Cameras were flashing in my eyes. I squinted against it, following beside Dad. 

It was becoming overwhelming again. My mind kept reminding me of the last time I had this many bright lights in my face, just before I had to install the reactor over Dad’s heart.

My spare hand grabbed his coat sleeve. It was the empty one, since his arm was still in the sling.

“Hey, look who’s here! Yeah!” Obadiah announced with almost sincere cheer.

Coulson was talking with Pepper. I stuck with Dad. My heart was starting to race again. This felt too close to the video filming in the cave.

“Hold on, Rebecca.” Obadiah held up a hand in front of me. “This is for the big wigs. You should stay back with Miss Potts. You’re not exactly ready for this kind of thing.”

Before I could start crumbling in my shoes, Dad came to my defense.

“Not happening. No. She’s got as much to do with this as I do.” Dad came up, wrapping his arm protectively over my shoulders. More than that he stood between myself and Obadiah, as if subconsciously understanding that Obadiah had been the one I was afraid of.

In the cave it’d become normal for this. If Dad felt a threat towards his daughter, those repressed paternal instincts kicked into overdrive. Out here in LA? It just looked odd for the previously distant father to protect his brat with such urgency.

“Come on, Beaky.” Dad guided me towards the side of the stage.

The older business man sighed slightly. He was giving me a cautious look before walking up to the podium.

Once he was out of hearing range, I whispered “Thank you Dad.”

“No problem. But...are you really okay?”

“No.” I answered. “It just...too many bright lights, and people taller than me.”

He nodded in understanding. “Come on. I got an idea.”

He moved us to the front of the podium. I proudly sat next to him, still drinking the shake.

“Alright. Let’s get started.” Obadiah began. He drifted off when he realized the Starks were not beside him.

“Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down? Why don’t you just sit down?” Dad asked. He pulled the extra burger out of his pocket. I was halfway through the milkshake. “That way you can see us, and we can.” He motioned to the photographers.

The press lowered themselves to the floor. My panic was fading away the lower the group was. My hand didn’t let go of Dad’s empty sleeve.

“A little less formal and, yeah great.” Dad encouraged.

Soon, everyone was sitting down. Obadiah came around. I realized with a barely concealed jolt that he was kneeling down beside me.

“Good to see you.” Dad greeted Obadiah.

The older business man smiled way too thinly. He made a motion that I thought was a  _ ‘you should be dead because I ordered your executions but you’re alive so now I have to be nice’ _ head tilt. “Good to see you.” He repeated. He made sure to look at both of us, in what was supposed to be friendly and welcoming, but to me felt sinister.

“I never got to say goodbye to Dad.” He replied. Obadiah looked at Dad in surprise at the non sequitur. “I never got to say goodbye to my father, Becky didn’t get to say goodbye to him. You know Becky right?” He told the reporters.

“Hello.” I waved my fingers. Some of the reporters smiled kindly at me. I appreciated it.

“There’s questions that I would have asked him.” Dad went on. “I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts.” He looked over at me. “I would’ve asked him about being a parent.” He admitted. In response, I lowered my milkshake to give a shaky smile to the crowd. “Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels.”

Rhodey and I both gave small chuckles to that.

“I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them.” Dad went on to explain. “And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability. I saw that, my kid would be a part of that system someday.”

“Mr. Stark!” A few reporters asked.

Dad elbowed me with his shoulder. “You pick one.”

I blinked, momentarily surprised. “Benny?” I pointed at the reporter I remembered speaking from the movie.

Dad nodded. Probably- _ hopefully _ \- thinking I made a good choice. “Hey, Ben.”

“What happened over there?” Ben asked.

Dad rose up to his feet. I stood up, deciding to lean against the podium. It took a lot out of me not to step on Obadiah’s hand on principle.

“I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that the Starks have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up.” Dad explained. It surprised me again that I was being brought up. But, I knew he was talking about how I built his new heart, that I helped build that suit. “And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be.”

The crowd. Went. Nuts.

They all stood up. The cameras all flashed again with life. They shouted questions at us in rapidfire. Obadiah rushed up to the podium. In a quick rush of protective instinct, I rushed to the other side of Dad to pull him away in case Obadiah tried anything funny.

Obadiah tried to get control back from Dad. But Starks are stubborn bastards. Dad made no room for him to speak.

“What direction it should take, one that I’m comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well.” Dad went on.

He peace made, Dad walked away. I followed behind, telling myself to keep my chin up. _ ‘Do not let them see your fear’ _ I reminded myself.

“What we should take away from this is that the Starks are back!” Obadiah cheered behind us. “And they’re healthier than ever. We’re going to have a little internal discussion and we’ll get back to you with the follow-up.”

He was right about one thing.

We were back.

And he wouldn’t get rid of us so easily ever again.

 

==NM==

 

Dad brought me to the original reactor.

It was a great big building, with even bigger windows. It felt easier to breathe here. The familiar taste of burning electronics coupled with the loud humming of the fans. My shoes scuffing against linoleum flooring. A trashcan that wasn’t just an old rusty bucket.

I had taken off the red sweater, hanging it over the railing. As great as it was to wear sweaters again, there was an added bonus of letting the AC give you shivers.

“Why did you do that?” I asked him.

“It’s what you would have done.” Dad replied.

“...yeah? And? You never do things because someone else would have done them.” I countered. “Well, you might have just to say you did it  _ first _ .”

It’s true. If the moon landing hadn’t already happened, Tony Stark would’ve made his own rocket to fly up there, and put a flag with the Stark Enterprises symbol on it. Then he would get blackout drunk to celebrate.

That was old Tony. I’m not sure what new Tony would’ve done.

Dad grinned. He grabbed the railing with his good hand, looking up at the reactor. 

“Thanks...for telling them I had talents.” I leaned against the railing too, being mindful of my bad wrist. Beside me, Dad chuckled. “Okay. That sounded bad.” I laughed. I held up a finger, funnily enough from the broken wrist hand. “I meant...Did you really eat a cheeseburger in front of them?”

Dad snorted. “I did, yeah. You drank a milkshake.”

And that was when father and daughter _ lost it.  _ We laughed uncontrollably. It was the quiet ‘bad joke’ laughter. It was the kind of laughter that you couldn’t seem to get the handle on. If you tried, you just snorted so hard your nose would hurt. Your eyes would water. The mostly empty room echoed your laughter back to you, which made it sound ridiculous so you laughed harder.

Some people would tell you we were laughing off the stress. Others would say we must’ve finally lost our minds. Close friends would say they hadn’t ever seen Tony and Becky laughing together since puberty.

Obadiah? He was on the side that said we’d lost our minds.

The look was clear on his face when he walked in. A heavy cigar in his mouth, barely restrained rage in his eyes, hands on his hips. Oh we were going to be scolded god-father style.

“Well, that...that went well.”

His words had a sobering effect on us. I coughed to get rid of the last bits of laughter. My gaze went down to my sneakers in shame.

“Did I just paint a target on the back of our heads?” Dad asked, motioning to himself and me.

“Your heads?” Obadiah stalked behind us. He glared at our heads as if imagining that target. “What about my head?”

_ ‘You mean when we go on your computer and find out you gave our guns to terrorists? Yeah you’re dead meat.’ _

“What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?” I asked. Obadiah looked at me in surprise. Dad took off his coat, hanging it on the railing along with his tie. “Yeah. I know business things. What’s the over-under?”

“Optimistically, 40 points.” Obadiah answered, still unsure. He glared at Dad. “At minimum.”

“Yep.” Dad added.

“That’ll be fun.” I added with a teasing grin.

“Now Tony-” Obadiah started in a completely patronizing way. “Whatever peace loving hippie ideas Rebecca put in your head these past few months about this company, you need to remember. We’re a weapons manufacturer.” Obadiah instructed.

Things were making sense towards his less than stellar attitude. I was the bigger threat, as heir apparent to Stark Industries. That, and I had been taking up the company soon. Obadiah knew I wouldn’t be so far from the reports, that I would be much more involved than Tony. I was sure to notice him selling the weapons first.

So he suggests I join Dad on his trip.

For my execution.

But here I was. Alive and well. With my dad. Who had just decided to stop making weapons.

“Obie, I just don’t want a body count to be our only legacy.” Dad stated.

“That’s what we do. We’re iron mongers.” Obadiah explained, giving us both pointed looks. More me than Dad, anyway. “We make  _ weapons _ .”

“It’s her name on the side of the building too.” Dad reminded. “And it wasn’t her decision, it was mine.”

“And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos.” Obadiah countered sternly.

“Not based on what we saw. We’re not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We’re gonna do something else.” Dad argued.

“Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?” He snapped.

“Arc reactor technology.” I answered simply. It had been the first time I spoke in this argument. My voice felt stronger because of it. Looking up, I met Obadiah’s eyes. “Let’s give it a second chance.”

The older man looked at me with the humoring smile someone gave an overdramatic child. 

“Come on. The arc reactor, that’s a publicity stunt! Rebecca, come on. We built that thing to shut hippies like you up!” Obadiah scolded.

“Hippies like me? Do I  _ look _ like a hippie to you?” I snapped back.

Dad groaned beside me. He kept his gaze on the large arc reactor, probably to try and tune us out.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” I stated, trying to keep some kind of peace. “It works.”

“Yeah, as a science project.” Obadiah ranted. He was pacing around us. “The arc was never cost effective. Your father and I knew that before  _ we _ built it.” He stopped behind Dad’s back. He glanced down at the direction of the mini arc reactor through Dad’s back. I had the sudden urge to claw at his lecherous face. “Arc reactor technology, that’s a dead end, right?”

“Maybe.” Dad taunted. He turned to Obadiah with a straight face. I was able to keep my anger subdued. Somehow.

“Am I right? We haven’t had a breakthrough in that in what?” Obadiah shrugged. He didn’t look away from Dad. “Thirty years.”

“That’s what they say.” Dad tapped my arm with his free hand.

I rolled my eyes at Obadiah’s expression.

“Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?” Dad asked.

“Never mind who told me. Show me.” Obadiah requested.

“It’s Rhodey or Pepper.” Dad reasoned. “Becky hasn’t left my side for a  _ minute _ .”

“I want to see it.” Obadiah demanded.

“It was Rhodey.” I decided, nonchalant. “Pepper wouldn’t have said a damn thing.”

“That’s right. She wouldn’t.” Dad agreed.

“Okay.” Obadiah buttoned up Dad’s shirt.  _ ‘I’m sure the last thing he wants is for everyone to see Becky Stark’s work of genius’. _ “Okay?”

“It works. She built it.” Dad motioned to me. “ _ She _ built it. Becky. You should’ve seen her, Obie, she was-”

“ _ Dad _ .” I blushed, trying to hide my face behind my hair. It didn’t work.

“No. Hey, come on, you gotta take credit when you do something.” Dad instructed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll take credit for things.” I made myself laugh. It was hard to fully relax with Obadiah watching us. There had been a camera on me for three months straight. Despite knowing the people on the other side had guns, I felt safer under  _ that  _ than I did under Obadiah’s cold empty eyes.

“Listen to me, Tony.” He threw an arm over Dad. He glanced at me, reluctant. “ _ Rebecca _ .” He added as an afterthought, throwing his other arm over my shoulder. It put his face uncomfortably close to mine.

I tensed under his arm. The smell of his cigar exhale went right over my nose. The cigar itself was resting on my hair.

“We’re a team now. Do you understand?” Obadiah explained to Dad and I. He lowered his voice, giving an air of importance to his words. “There’s nothing we can’t do if we stick together, like your father and I.” He glanced at me again. “Like your father and I have been doing since you were a toddler.”

The image of young Obadiah with my dad, and a baby version of me, sent a chill down my spine. It didn’t help that my mind was playing that tape again in my head.  _ “As you can see, Obadiah Stane, your deception and lies will cost you dearly.” _

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a heads-up, okay?” Dad immediately tried to build back the peace. “But if I had-”

_ ‘You would’ve stopped him.’ _ I finished for him.  _ ‘We couldn’t save Yinsen, but we could be the kind of people he wanted us to be.’ _

“Tony. Tony, no more of this  _ ‘ready, fire, aim’  _ business. You understand me?” Obadiah requested with an underlying order.

“That was Dad’s line.” Dad commented snidely.

“I remember reading that newspaper.” I added with as much distaste.

“You gotta let me handle this.” He suggested as if we hadn’t spoken. Obadiah could try all he wanted. He  _ wasn’t _ family. He would  _ never _ be family. We  _ barely _ liked family or when someone brought up _ family. _ “We’re gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We’re going to have to take a lot of heat.”

I glared at him. This would probably sound childish. He was totally dropping some ash in my hair as he removed his arm from my shoulder.

Dad went to pick up his coat. I lifted up my sweater, following after the two men.

“I want you to promise me that you’re gonna lay low.” Obadiah requested.

Dad looked back at me over Obadiah’s shoulder. He winked at me with a proud smirk.

I grinned, snickering under my breath.  _ ‘We were home.’ _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh...I’m so happy right now. The college stuff is coming together. I’m working at theatre camp. I have a job all lined up.
> 
> Becky/Morgan is far from happy this time. I wanted to write here that she’s not as strong as she likes to make herself out to be. Despite being 96, she’s young. The time has changed her as it would have changed anyone else.
> 
> And I wanted some growth on Tony’s part. Someone pointed out way back when “I don’t believe Tony would do that-be so rude to his kid”. I wanted to show that Deadbeat-Tony is growing up.


	11. Chapter 10

It was early the next morning. I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. It could have been running from my nightmares. I just...wasn’t tired. Maybe things were catching up with me. Was this some late term shock?

So when I stopped lying down, my first stop was to the bathroom.

JARVIS was thankfully silent.

When I showered, I had to remind myself about shampoo and conditioner. Brushing my hair was a _ pain _ . Then using the body wash. Finally I could _ shave _ . I brushed my teeth. It was the cleanest I’d been on the outside in  _ ages. _

But when I caught my reflection in the foggy mirror, I wasn’t sure what I saw. Behind the fog was my younger self, my much shorter self. Wiping away the fog, there was a  _ tired _ twenty year old.

She had heavy bags under her old amber eyes. Her shoulders seemed to sag with the weight of the world. Her black hair hung limply in thick uneven strands, she needed a haircut. She had scars on her body, some jagged and some clean. Her newer ones were pink, standing out against her tan skin.

Seeing my reflection, I felt all ninety-six of my years.

My hand went down to my stomach. You couldn’t tell I had been shot there.

_ -BANG! _

_ girl screaming _

_ shots firing _

_ girl screaming going deeper _

_ fire _

_ men screaming- _

The memories were coming in rough flashes. Shaking my head and some hard blinking brought me back to LA.

How had I done it? How had three months gone by without losing my sanity? I’ve been in worse situations that lasted a day, and I was in therapy for months! Yet here I stood, after surviving three months in a cave, worrying about my uneven hair.

Putting this off until later felt like a better decision. I walked out of the bathroom, drying myself off with one of the fluffy towels.

After getting dressed in some comfy pajamas, I went downstairs to get some breakfast.

I found Tony making coffee. He looked like he’d gotten as much sleep as I did. He wore an oil stained gray tank top, and dark baggy jeans. He was staring lost at the coffee machine, shoulders sagging as my own did in the mirror.

“ _ Good morning, Miss Stark.” _ JARVIS spoke from overhead.

The Stark patriarch snapped up to attention. He turned to face me, I gave him a tired wave.

“Morning.” I noted.

He nodded his head at me. “Yeah, it is.” The coffee machine pinged. He pulled his coffee out of it. “Get any sleep?” He asked. He went to the fridge, pulling out the coffee creamer.

“Why, do I look like I got any?”

“No. Then again, neither do I. Want a mug?” He asked.

“I don’t drink coffee.” I answered. Since we were both hungry, I started on cooking breakfast. Pepper must have gone shopping before we came back in. I pulled out some eggs, then stuff for pancakes. “I prefer cocoa. It should be in the other drawer.” _ ‘Hopefully Pepper bought me the kind with marshmallows and in the big metal tin.’ _

Dad gave me a look. “Huh. Didn’t know that.”

“You let me try it when I was eight. It sucked. I never touched the stuff again.” I admitted. I pulled out a frying pan, spraying it with stick-off. Turning the stove in high, I cracked about four eggs down.

“That was, what, ten years ago?” He pulled the hot chocolate mix down.  _ ‘She did get the marshmallow big tin kind, Hell yeah!’ _

“Probably more.” I started scrambling the eggs. 

“Oh god. Yeah. I always drank my coffee black. No wonder it sucked.” Tony lifted his coffee mug (having been filled with cream and sugar) to his lips.

I snorted. “I don’t think the world can handle me on coffee. It can barely handle me on sugar.” The eggs needed to be flipped over. “Pancakes are next. Hand me the cocoa powder, and I’ll show you some of the best chocolate pancakes you’ve ever had.”

Dad nearly threw the tin at me in excitement. “Deal.”

 

==NM==

 

After our father-daughter breakfast, I sent Dad downstairs to get ready for heart surgery. His reactor wasn’t made for the long term. He mentioned building a second reactor overnight, so he was ready to move on.

When I made my way downstairs, I saw Pepper on our couch watching the news.

_ Stark Industries! I’ve got one recommendation! Ready? Ready? Sell, sell, sell! Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells? _

I grimaced. 

_ Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan! *glass crashing* _

“That’s a little crude.” I noted. My phone started ringing a loud obnoxious ringtone. 

Pepper gasped, turning to face me. “Becky!”

“Hey.” I gave a small wave, answering the phone. “Dad?”

_ “How big are your hands?” _

“You started without me?”

_ “You weren’t here. Had to get started. How big are your hands?” _

“Big enough because I built the thing!” I snapped into the phone. Stomping towards the lab, I kept arguing over the phone. “Of course my hand fits!” I hung-up on him.

_ Look, that’s a weapons company that doesn’t make weapons! _

“Becky, everything okay?” Pepper asked.

“Can’t talk. Gotta go. Father/daughter stuff.” 

“Is Tony okay-” Pepper stopped herself with an annoyed grunt. “He’s not okay.”

I heard her heels click as she followed me. Fortunately, I was faster. The doors to the lab locked behind me. After pressing a few buttons the clear gas went foggy.

Tony Stark was laying down on an improvised medical table. The computers read off his vital signs. They seemed normal, but I wasn’t a medical professional, so what the fuck did I know?

There was a hole in his chest. It was the hole I helped Yinsen cut. It was the hole that was supposed to hold the arc reactor.

“So, got started without me?” I asked, putting on a pair of rubber gloves. 

Tony looked down at his chest. The new reactor in his hands was glowing brightly. “You took too long.”

“You know, my new patient, patience is a virtue.” I walked up to his side, taking the new reactor from his hands. 

He laughed. “Yeah well no one’s ever said I had virtues. Why start now?”

“That’s good. I’m gonna quote you on that.” Putting down the reactor, I moved to take off the original.

“Go ahead.” Tony invited.

So I unlocked the reactor from his chest, being cautious as I pulled it out. There was a click as the plug disconnected. 

“So, what made you call me?” Moving the reactor next to the new one. “Because you sounded like a kid would got their hand caught in the cookie jar.”

“Nothing. I just ran into a little speed bump.”

My arms crossed over my chest, my hip jutting out in proper teenage fashion. “Mm-hmm.”

“You know, you look just like your grandmother when you do that?”

“Cute, using Nana against me. Not enough, though. Start talking.”

He huffed. “It’s just an exposed wire. It’s contacting the sicker and causing a little short.”

“So you were trying to fix it without seeing it?”

“...yes.”

“You know, if this wasn’t a life-or-death situation, you would be so dead.”

Dad laughed. It must hurt with his chest open. “Just reach in-”

“As the only one  _ awake _ when this was  _ installed _ , shut up.”

My hand reached inside the metal tubing. It wasn’t long before I reached the pus. It squelched like toy slime.

“How did you keep Pepper out?” My patient asked.

“Told JARVIS not to let her in.”

Dad winced. I paused, in case of accidental injury. “She’s not digging it.”

The smell of the plastic discharge hit me. I nearly gagged.

_ ‘Come on, Morgan, you once cleaned up the men’s bathroom of an insane asylum to make it safe for human use. You survive  _ that _ you survive anything!’ _

With that it mind, I pushed through the discharge to find it wire. “Do people even say  _ ‘digging it’  _ anymore?” 

“It’s just a phrase, never mind.” Tony sighed.

Soon enough, the wire was found. I started to gently ease it out. “Found the wire. It was the copper one.”

“Yeah I know.” Dad let out a quick breath. I didn’t even realize he was holding it in. “Okay, remember that when you pull it out, you don’t-”

“Becky don’t you ever lock me out agai-TONY!”

Pepper’s sudden appearance made me flinch. It was enough to pull out the magnet by accident.

“-there’s a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out.” Tony grunted in annoyance and pain.

“Oh, God!” Pepper exclaimed.

“She surprised me!” I accused.

“Okay, I was not expecting-  _ Don’t put it back in! Don’t put it back in!” _ Tony shouted in distress. 

“I know!” I tossed it next to the reactors, grabbing the shinier one. 

“What’s wrong?” Pepper asked, staying behind me.

“Nothing, I’m just going into cardiac arrest ‘cause  _ you _ yanked it out like a trout.” He thee me a narrow glance before staring down at his chest.

“I told JARVIS to keep her out!” I defended myself.

“What the hell, Tony? I don’t think that Becky’s qualified to do this!” Pepper waved her arms towards me. 

“No, she’s fine. You and her are the most capable, qualified, trustworthy people I’ve ever met.” He glances at me. “You’re gonna do great.”

“I know I’m doing great. Crap your heart rate is speeding up.”

“Oh, my God, is that the thing that’s keeping you alive?” Pepper stared at the old reactor.

“It was. It is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future.” Tony tapped his chest. “Remember to connect it to the base plate-”

“You can shut up now.” I instructed. 

“Okay. Okay. It’s gonna be okay, Tony.” Pepper assured. 

“I know it’s going to be okay.” He kept watch of my arm in his chest. “Got it yet, Becky?”

“Found it.” Without any more setbacks, I slid the plug into the plate. 

Dad let out a loud  _ shout _ .

“Was that so hard? That was fun, right?” Tony asked. I had a relieved laugh as I clicked the reactor in. Pepper was still having a panic attack behind us. “Here, I got it. I got it. Here.”

“Already done.” The reactor locker in with a satisfying  _ whoosh. _

Dad smirked. “Nice.” 

“Are you okay?” Pepper asked, coming out of her attack.  

“Yeah, I feel great.” Dad shrugged off any near death that mayor may not have occurred. “You okay?”

“Don’t ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever.” Pepper panted, face getting her color back.

“I don’t have anyone but you two.” He admitted, trying and failing at nonchalance.

My cheeks were warm in blush. 

He coughed, nervously. Or I took as nervous. It could’ve been a medical thing. “Anyway.”

Tony stood himself up. I threw away the rubber gloves, happy to be rid of the stupid things. My hands were chalky from the latex.

“What do you want me to do with this?” Pepper asked, holding up the old reactor.

“That? Destroy it. Incinerate it.” Dad decided.

“You don’t want to keep it?” Pepper asked.

“Pepper, I’ve been called many things. ‘Nostalgic’ is not one of them. Beaky‘s a witness to that.” He reminded her.

“Still can’t believe you threw out my art project.” I teased, having no idea if he even  _ did. _

Until he scoffed. “That stick thing looked nothing like me.”

The two of us laughed.

“Will that be all, Mr. Stark?” Pepper asked, once our laughter stalled.

“That will be all, Miss Potts.” Tony bowed his head just slightly.

Pepper walked away.

I snorted.

“Hey, Butterfingers, What’s so funny?” Dad asked.

“ _ That will be all Miss Potts _ .” I joked, walking over towards some of the screens.

Dad mocked my laugh. He shoved me, only making me laugh harder.

 

==NM==

 

To anyone who knew me, they would say I was stubborn.

Good ole Papa Stark was learning this the hard way.

Tony didn’t like the idea of me being a hero with him. After I finished laughing, I realized he was  _ serious _ . 

“Wait a minute. My body can rapidly heal, and you’re saying I  _ can’t _ be a superhero like you?” Asked I, the arguably more mature one.

“Sorry, aren’t father’s supposed to wrap their daughters in bubble wrap and not let them out until their age matches their dad’s?” Spoke he, the not so mature one.

I glared at him.

There was a pregnant pause. “Becky I don’t know  _ what _ happened that night.” Tony explained. “I just know I don’t want it to happen again.”

He had a point.  _ Neither  _ of us knew what happened that night. Had my reality jumping powers advanced? Was this just something created in the Marvel universe? Was it the Ten Rings?

Maybe I needed to run tests...

“At  _ least _ let me help with the suit.” I begged.

He seemed to be debating with himself.

“I  _ really _ helped with the last one. Can you imagine the upgrades we can add with the materials we have at home?”

_ Closer. Closer. _

“I’ll be a better assistant than Dummy.”

_ Sold _ .

“Deal.” He stretched out his hand.

I grabbed it.

Before we shook, he added “But if I say you’re done, then you’re done.”

“Only if I can say the same for you.” I countered.

We shook our hands in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NINETY FOLLOWERS! HOLY CRAP!
> 
> This took forever. There was backlash for the last chapter, so I took a while to figure out where to go. I’m happy with where I went.
> 
> So happy about Ragnarok. I’m about to leave to see it. I LOVE Tom Hiddleston! I’m wearing a green shirt that says ‘I am s-h-e-r Loki’d’!
> 
> I’ve updated a lot of other stories this week. Hopefully I’ll update Damaged Goods after T3R. I’m just too excited for this movie!!!


	12. Chapter 11

In August, when things calmed down, we went to see Rhodey.

We’d been working on new designs for the new suit for most of the week. We stopped for the occasional bought of sleep and food (at JARVIS and Pepper’s insistence). I hadn’t been getting much sleep, the few hours I didn’t were always nightmares.

This was our first time at base since the return. Not long after I made that connection my anxiety started rising. It was because of Dad that I didn’t  _ completely _ fall apart. Many anxiety attacks had been stopped by the sight of Robert Downey Jr. Who else can say  _ that _ ? I mean, he  _ does _ have an inspiration story before his acting career, but besides  _ that... _

They told us Rhodey was leading a group of pilots through the hanger for training. The security checked out clearance then let us off on our merry way.

While the father was dressed like a rejected bad boy from Grease, I was wearing a sweatshirt. Perfect for California heat in early August. The sweater was red, and said  _ Starfleet Academy _ on the front (It was accurate to TOS, since red was engineering and I have never felt more like a Starfleet Engineer then when I was building Mach One).

Either way, Tony Stark thought the shirt was funny.

“The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned?” Rhodey’s voice echoed in the hanger. Tony and I followed it to find him with a large group of recruits behind a fighter jet. “I’ll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot’s instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot’s judgment.”

“Colonel?” Dad cut in. The training group turned to the sound. Rhodey turned too, except he was surprised to see me there. I smiled proudly. It didn’t assure Rhodey to my being there at all. “Why not a pilot without the plane?” Dad asked.

“Look who fell out of the sky. Mr Tony and Ms Becky Stark.” Rhodey greeted proudly.

“Hello, sir.” A cadet greeted Dad.

“Ma’am.” One cadet held his hand out to me.

I stared down at it, tilting my head just so. “Yeah, I don’t shake hands. It’s a thing. Did you know more germs pass between humans during a handshake? It’s safer to kiss.”

The cadet lowered his hand. The others looked at me with uneasy faces.

“Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break.” Tony encouraged them. I giggled under my breath. “Just remember that, spring break, 1987. That lovely lady you woke up with.”

The group started to snort at Rhodey.

Rhodey quickly caught on. “Don’t do that!” He shook his head.

“What was his name?” Tony asked.

The cadets laughed.

“Don’t do that.” Rhodey pleaded.

“Was it lvan?” Dad teased.

“I miss Uncle Ivan. He made French toast.” I chirped.

“Don’t do that, Becks. Don’t take his side.” Rhodey instructed. He was scolding both of us at the same time, and I don’t think he’s ever really done that before. But their was relief in his eyes, a smile on the end of his lip. “They’ll believe it. Don’t do that.”

“Okay.” Tony shrugged.

“Whatever you say.” I lifted my hands up innocently.

“Don’t do that.” Rhodey told us both.

“Pleasure meeting you.” Tony told the group.

I waved. “Hope to see y’all again eventually.”

“Give us a couple minutes, you guys.” Rhodey instructed.

The cadets walked off, disappointed they’d miss the rest of the show. My kind smile dropped, to a more excited smirk.

“I’m surprised.” Rhodey began with.

“Why?” Tony asked.

“I swear, I didn’t expect to see  _ either  _ of you walking around so soon.” Rhodey admitted. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Especially not together.”

“We’re doing a little better than walking together.” Tony hinted.

“Really?” Rhodey asked, hope in his eyes.

“Yeah.” I encouraged. “Rhodey, we’re doing something _ big _ . Dad and me. We wanted to...well...”

“We want you to be a part of it.” Dad finished for me.

Rhodey beamed. He really beamed. “You’re about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, ‘cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy.” Rhodey shook his head at us, a proud smile on his face.

My smirk shook, as if I was just now coming to the conclusion that Rhodey wasn’t going to help. “It’s not military, Rhodey.” I explained in a soft voice. I wanted Rhodey to understand, Becky would’ve wanted Rhodey to understand.

“We’re not... _ I’m _ not...It’s different.” Tony explained. He wanted Rhodey to know it too. 

“What? You two humanitarians now or something?” Rhodey asked, looking at us in a way I’d never seen in the few months I’ve known him. From the look in his eyes, it was like he didn’t recognize us. 

As the one who had been living the life of Rebecca Stark, it was not an expression I ever wanted to see.

Tony straightened his shoulders back at my distress. “I need you to listen to me.” He brought out the Serious-Dad voice. 

“No. What you need is time to get your minds right.” Rhodey insisted on a stern voice that reminded you he was trained military.

Just like that, the Stark dream of working with Rhodey died. I’d known it from the start, it just hurt that he was dragging me into-

_ And he was using the same argument Obadiah did. _

I pushed that thought from my head. It wouldn’t help my anxiety to think of Obadiah right now.

It must’ve shown on my face. Rhodey’s expression fell. “Becky, don’t look at me like that.”

“I’m not looking at you like that.” I argued. My voice wobbled at the end, I covered it as best as I could.

“Don’t do that. I’m serious.” Rhodey asked.

“Okay.” I shrugged, sliding my arms over my chest. They covered the Starfleet logo on the shirt. I looked down at it, rather than meet Rhodey’s eyes.

Rhodey sighed. “It’s nice seeing you, Becky.”

“Uh-huh.” Instead of continuing the conversation, I started to walk out of the hanger. Dad’s footsteps followed behind me.

“You too, Tony.” Rhodey called out.

“Thanks.” Dad didn’t wave at him. He just walked faster to meet my pace. “You okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” I took a quick breath, using it to bury the unexpected anxiety. “Yeah. It’s good. This-  _ this _ belongs with the Starks. It’s where it’ll stay.”

Dad agreed. He lightly pushed his fist against my arm. I stumbled, arms falling from their cross position. It got a laugh out of me as I got back to balance.

“You  _ jerk _ .” I laughed.

He wasn’t phased. “The tabloids have said worse about me, kid.”

“Yeah. They say the  _ worst _ about people over thirty-five.” I replied, feeling a skip in my feet. 

“You said  _ thirty  _ last time.” Dad brought up.

“You  _ remembered that _ . Who’s in the wrong  _ now _ ?”

 

==NM==

 

I walked downstairs to find Tony working on decluttering the Mark Two.

“Hard at work, or hardly working?” I remarked.

“Come on, Becky, I know you’re new to the worship-” Tony reminded.

“I was talking to JARVIS and the bots.” I interrupted. With a cheeky smirk, I walked up to a laptop.

Tony laughed with me. He was still clearing up the designs, trashing big parts of it.

Walking beside him, I looked over the new specs. “How’s it comin’?”

“It’s coming when I say it’s coming.” Tony replied. 

I hummed. “And...how much longer is that gonna be?”

“You’re a brat and I’m glad I can’t remember your mother, because I can blame all of this backtalk on her.” Dad commented.

I barked out a laugh. “Uncle JARVIS, did you record that?”

_ “You know I have.” _

“Can you email it to Pepper? This’ll brighten her day. Make the subject line: Something stupid Tony’s said that  _ won’t _ be printed in the tabloids!” I beamed at Tony.

He was giving me an accusing flat stare. It was ruined by his quick-as-the-Flash grin.

 

==NM==

 

Two weeks later, we were finally getting somewhere.

Dad drank a  _ lot _ of coffee. I hadn’t seen him sleep. Except for those times he body just gave out in exhaustion. Oddly, I hadn’t gotten much sleep. It didn’t bother me as much as I knew it should.

He was finishing up on the boot. I was working on the flight stabilizers with Butterfingers.

As the other Stark worked with Dummy, I laughed at the snippets of his arguing with the AI bot.

“Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dummy. Right here. You got me? Stay put. Nice. You’re of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this. Okay, I’m sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it. Don’t even move.” Tony continued working without missing a beat. “You are a tragedy.”

“Not much of a surprise, from when ya built him.” I replied from the desk across from his. I’d just finished installing the wiring. The calibration was going to take a bit more time (especially since I had Butterfingers get me more equipment).

“Well you were actually in the room when that happened, so I was bound to be distracted and miss you messing him up.” Tony shot back.

“How well were you watching me if I could mess up one of your bots?” I replied. “Cause, you’d have to be doing some third thing to forget the under construction robot and kid.”

“I was asleep.”

“Ugh, you still slept? No wonder you were a mess.” Butterfingers had come back by that point. He held out the tools I’d asked for. “Thanks Butt-” Before I could finish, he dropped them. I quickly grabbed them without missing a beat. “-erfingers, now I can finish this.”

Dad turned his head towards my table. He saw me working on the wiring. “What are you building again? I thought I put you in charge of programming.”

“Finished that last week ago.” I bobbed my head towards the computer screens.

The first week I had spent working on the Iron Man program- all those stats you’d see from Iron Man’s helmet screen? That’s what I was doing. Most of it I knew already, the rest I had to do actual work. The whole ‘not needing sleep’ thing was helpful for that.

“Got bored. Started on a flight stabilizer. Butterfingers if you move and hit me I’m gonna be mad.” I warned without looking back at it.

The bot let out a sad whirr. I didn’t acknowledge the noise.

“You built that thing in a week?” Dad asked.

“Naw, four days.” I answered. “Though, one of the days was because I messed up the size of your arm. I had to re-measure your arm when you passed out.”

His face scrunched up in confusion. “When did I do that?”

“You’ve done it, like, three times since we started. I finished the other boot before I built this though. I’ll let you look at it when you’re done with that one.” I admitted. “And  _ ow. _ Butterfingers, _ what did I say about moving?” _

The bot let out an apologetic hum.

 

==NM==

 

Later that day, there was enough for testing. We had everything set up for it.

“Okay, let’s do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center.” Tony recited. “Dummy, look alive. You’re on standby for fire safety.” The bot hummed in glee. Finally, he had a use! “You, roll it. Becks, you’re my man on the computer.”

“I got it, I got it.” I waved him off. He had me sitting in the tech booth, away from the testing sight. Though, I held up my own camera to record him. “Can we get on with it please? I wanna get working on the flight stabilizers before the sun goes down.”

“We won’t need them. You can’t rush genius, kid. I’ll teach you that someday. Activate hand controls.” I had to bit my lip to keep from snorting. It was gonna be so  _ awesome. _ “We’re gonna start off  _ nice  _ and _ easy _ . We’re gonna see if ten percent thrust capacity achieves lift. And three, two, one.”

But I just  _ laughed _ because he looked so  _ surprised _ when he hit the wall. It was even better when Dummy turned on the fire extinguisher.

 

==NM==

 

“I told you.  _ I  _ built the damn thing, it’s gonna work!” I argued with him. “You didn’t need to break it down like that!”

Tony wasn’t listening. He was fastening the flight stabilizer to his arm, and arc reactor.

“Will you just...accept that I did my damn job?” I snapped. I held up my tools, exasperated again. Tony was hard to talk to on the third day without sleep.

“You’re totally doing your job. Sitting over there, keeping track of things.” He remarked offhandedly. “Hey, as your dad, I’m supposed to tell you not to swear, right?”

“You can. It won’t work, but you can say it.” I admitted.

“Cool.” Tony shrugged.

“This is gonna bite you in the ass.” I advised, meaning the flight stabilizer.

“Okay now I think I have to say something.” He didn’t look up from the flight stabilizer.

Behind me, I heard the door open. I’d known Pepper was coming in. Three months of paranoia, one ear always keeping watch of the door in case of the guards, never letting your guard down.

When the door opened for Pepper, I fought the urge to get up to my feet in a submissive position. My face must’ve twisted up in discomfort. Tony looked over at me, not hiding his concern. Well, not hiding it in the usual Tony Stark way. I’d learned he wasn’t very outward with his affection. It was more of a look in his eyes that said he wanted to do something that kept my life easy forever.

“I’ve been buzzing you. Did neither of you hear the intercom?” Pepper asked us. She was walking up behind us. I was trying to convince myself that Pepper wasn’t sneaking up for an attack.

“Didn’t feel like answering.” I admitted. I didn’t turn to face her, trying to get the discomfort expression off my face.

“Yeah, everything’s...what?” Tony asked. He hadn’t been paying attention to Pepper. He couldn’t split it between me and the flight stabilizer.

“Obadiah’s upstairs.” Pepper explained. I froze. Rather than let Tony see the expression, I got up from my seat. I walked over to what’d been declared my station. I shared it with Butterfingers, mostly.

“Great! Great. I’ll be right up.”

“What would you like me to tell him?”

“Okay.” Dad lifted up the flight stabilizer.

“It’s gonna go wrong.” I called back over my shoulder.

“You know what? I’m not even gonna listen to your negativity.” Tony replied. He was finishing the setup.

“It’s not ‘ _ negativity’ _ , it’s _ ‘facts’ _ .” I pointed out.

“We’re Starks. We don’t like  _ ‘facts’. _ ”

“I thought you said you were done making weapons.” Pepper remarked. “Becky, you’d _ never _ build this.” She added to me, sounding disappointed and confused.

“It is. This is a flight stabilizer. It’s completely harmless.” Tony assured.

It fired unexpectedly, blasting Tony back. 

I let out a dry snort. Pepper gasped in concern, going to Tony’s side. “’s happened a lot in two weeks. Still funny.”

“I didn’t expect that.” He excused while Pepper helped him to his feet.

“If you’d’ve let _ me _ do it-”

“Shut it, you brat.” Dad cut me off.

I gasped, in mock offense. “Pepper! Dad’s being verbally abusive!” I shouted too loudly, since Pepper was a lot closer than I thought.

Pepper didn’t mind. She was watching us with a fond expression. 

Still when they went up, I followed behind.  _ Far _ behind.

 

==NM==

 

Tony hopped up the stairs from his lap. He skipped a few of the steps, impatient to get back to his lab. Pepper had come up first, after making sure he was alright. He knew Becky wasn’t coming up, she was already nose deep in repairing her flight stabilizer.

It _ was _ her’s, Tony knew that. She’d spent more time building this suit than Tony did. Tomorrow he was going to make sure Becky took a day off. He was pretty sure his only days off were when he passed out, he imagined the same was true for Becky. She had to be exhausted

He could hear the piano being played. A bad sign, already. Tony looked over to the living room. Pepper was on the couch, typing away at her laptop. There was a New York pizza on his coffee table. Oh boy, did coffee sound good right now.

“How’d it go?” Tony asked Obadiah.

The man at the piano lifted his head. He made to reply, then went back to his playing.

“It went that bad, huh?” Tony commented.

“Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn’t mean it went bad.” Obadiah remarked from the piano.

“Sure doesn’t.” Tony sat down on the couch. He lifted the lid on the pizza. It was the _ good _ New York City pizza. “Oh, boy.”

“It would have gone better if you were there.” Obadiah pointed out.

“Uh-Uh.” He took a bite of it. He knew if he ate all the pizza, Becky’d be mad. He was sure she loved pizza. What Stark didn’t love pizza? (His father didn’t count) “You told us to lay low. That’s what Becky and I’ve been doing. We lay low, and you take care of all-” Tony reminded his business partner.

“Hey, come on. In public. The press.” Obadiah stepped away from the piano. He walked over to the living room. “This was a board of directors meeting.”

“This was a board of directors meeting?” Tony asked, feigning shock. JARVIS had told him about that, told Becky too. Both Starks were too busy with the Iron Man to go to a  _ meeting _ .

“The board is claiming you have posttraumatic stress.” Obadiah “They’re filing an injunction.”

“A what?” Tony’s expression switched to shock and confusion.

“They want to lock you out.” Obadiah clarified.

Tony knew what a goddamn injunction was. That wasn’t what he was asking! “Becky?”

“They don’t think she has the experience needed for the job, that she’s too young.” Obadiah explained.

“I was younger than her when I was given the company!” Tony reminded Obadiah.

“Yes, and  _ I _ controlled the company until you were ready.” Obadiah reminded. “They think changing hands to Rebecca won’t be good for the company.”

“Why, ‘cause the stocks dipped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.” Tony reminded him.

“Fifty-six and a half.” Pepper supplied, not looking up from the laptop.

_ ‘Dammit why do you have to be so perfect?’ _ Tony thought. “It doesn’t matter. We own the controlling interest in the company.” Tony assured them. Well, if it wasn’t Tony’s then it would be Becky’s.

“Tony, the Board has rights, too. They’re making the case that you and your new direction isn’t in the company’s best interest.” Obadiah explained.

“I’m being responsible! That’s a new direction for me, for the company. I mean, me on the company’s behalf being responsible for the way that. This is great.” Tony argued.

He was doing better, right? Wasn’t that what everyone had been complaining about before he _ ‘left’ _ ? Wasn’t it those kinds of mistakes that let him take his only kid to  _ ‘that place’ _ ? Why was everybody complaining about _ this _ now?

He didn’t want to think about it. He picked up the pizza. Without more hassle, he walked back towards their lab. 

“Oh, come on. Tony. Tony.” Obadiah called out to him. He let out that long suffering sigh Tony was used to hearing from everybody.

Except for Becky.

“I’ll be in the shop.” Tony told them.

“Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen.” Obadiah walked up to Tony. Tony nearly jumped back when Obadiah touched his shoulder. “I’m trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them.” He pointed at the reactor. Tony wanted to growl in protection. “Let me have the engineers analyze that. You know, draw up some specs.”

“No. No, absolutely not.” Tony insisted. 

“It’ll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!” Obadiah pleaded.

“This one stays with us. It’s Becky’s as much as it’s mine.” Tony put his foot down on it. This was  _ Stark _ tech,  _ their _ Stark tech. If Tony and Becky gave it to S.I., how long would it be before it ended up in the hands of people like the Ten Rings? “That’s it, Obie. Forget it.”

“All right, well, this stays with us, then.” Obadiah took the pizza back.

“I wouldn’t. Becky loves this pizza.” Tony warned. “If she doesn’t get the rest, she won’t talk to you again.” 

Obadiah sighed. He handed the pizza box to Tony. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Tony replied. He turned back to his lab.

“Hey, where  _ is _ Rebecca anyway?” Obadiah asked.

“Downstairs, in the lab.” Tony answered.

“You let her in the lab?” Obadiah asked.

“Can’t keep her away.” Tony pulled out a slice of pizza, taking a bite. “Takes after her old man.”

Then Obadiah smiled. Tony didn’t think about it until later, that the smile was just a bit too  _ sinister _ . “You mind if I come down there and see what you’re doing?”

“Good night, Obie.” Tony waved him goodbye.

He walked into the lab. The lights had been turned down. He hated when Becky did that. He actually liked working in the light. The dark made it hard to see.

Tony switched the lights back on. They rushed up to the brightness level Tony liked. He tossed the pizza box down on the clearest space. Becky didn’t react to it. She was still at her workspace, sitting up over the flight stabilizer. There was sounds of work, just...Becky wasn’t moving.

“Becks?” Tony called out. She turned to face him, face blank. “What’d we say about the lights in the lab?”

His daughter twitched again. “ _ Nahn nabni lakum _ Jericho.”

Tony froze. He remembered those words. She’d said them in the cave before they tried to stuff a hot rock down her throat. The words right before they dragged Becky away and brought her back half dead.

He started his walk again, only slower. Becky was still twitching, muttering that same phrase under her breath. The harder she twitched the harsher she spat out the phrase. It was also the closer Tony got to her.

“Becky, Becky! We don’t have to build Jericho!” Tony tried to calm her down. He’d never dealt with this kind of thing before. What was he supposed to do? “We never have to build it again!”

“ _ Nahn nabni lakum _ Jericho.”

“I’m hearin’ ya, and I’m saying you won’t have to build it ever again.” Tony countered.

Becky twitched again. This was a full body twitch- Tony wanted to say it was a seizure. At least then he’d have some idea of what to do. “ _ Nah-Nahn nab-nabni...” _ She was hyperventilating now. She let out a high pitched cry, falling to her knees to sob  _ hard _ .

“You don’t have to- dammit it!” Tony realized talking to her was a lost cause. “JARVIS! What do we do? What’s happening?” He called up.

_ “Sir, it appears Becky is having a panic attack.” _ JARVIS informed. For an AI, he sounded just as concerned.

“Okay yeah. What do I do?!” Tony shouted. He was glad the lab was sound proof. He didn’t want Pepper or Obie to see Becky like this.  _ She _ wouldn’t want them to see her like this.

_ “I’m looking up the best solution, Sir.” _ JARVIS replied. After what felt like an hour but was really a few seconds, JARVIS spoke up. “ _ Help her to a chair, let her know what’s going on.” _

“Okay. Okay.” Tony guided Becky over to one of their rolling chairs. She gasped loudly as he did so, though it didn’t sound pained just scared. “Becks, Becks, kid? It’s me, Dad. You’re having a...panic attack.”

Becky gasped again, tears in her eyes. She stared at Tony, _ begging _ him to make it stop. She’d stopped chanting about the Jericho. Now she was murmuring it.

_ “Stay calm, Sir. If you’re panicking, Becky will worry. This will only further the attack.” _

“Easier said than done.” Tony grumbled. He focused back on Becky. “Alright, Becky, let’s do this. We can do this. We’re Starks, we can beat this shit.”

Becky took a deeper breath. She was shaking now, the kind Tony thought would be from the cold.

_ “Assure Becky that there is nothing wrong. That she is in a safe space.” _

“Okay, okay, got it.” Tony braced himself. “You hear that, Becks? That was JARVIS. You remember where JARVIS is?” Tony tried.

Becky took in a gasping breath. “...Mali...” She whimpered.

“Yeah, yeah. Malibu. You got it right.” Tony praised. “We’re in Malibu right now, in the lab. Safe. Well.” He looked at the stabilizer, and Dummy (who was still holding a fire extinguisher). “Safe as we can be with Dummy around.”

Then Becky made a noise like static on a radio. Tony thought it might’ve been a laugh.

“Yeah, you really loved when Dummy set that thing off, didn’t you?” Tony remarked. She made that static noise again. “It’s fine, kid. We’re both fine.” He took a hold of her hand, giving him a firm squeeze.

She took a shaky breath. It was better than the others. She took more air in. She squeezed his hand back.

Tony had no idea what set her off. He was going to check the camera when Becky was stable, then make sure it never happened again.

JARVIS would help. They’d see Becky watching them talk from the stairs, running down them suddenly to where Tony had found her. They wouldn’t see what had caused it, they’d assume it was from lack of sleep. The next day, JARVIS would insist that Becky sleep and Tony would help it. Becky wouldn’t work in the lab for two days. She’d be annoyed and embarrassed by the whole thing.

However, Becky would _ never _ tell him it was because Obadiah had asked for the Reactor, the same way he’d asked for the Jericho. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a new job, taking up a lot of my time (26 hours a week, every week). I’m quitting it soon though because honestly it’s too stressful.   
> I’ve seen Black Panther three times now. My friend’s seen in a collective 5. We both agree Shuri and T’Challa are the best Marvel siblings (“Better than Loki and Thor?” “These two aren’t trying to kill each other.” “Good point, true.”) ever.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Some period talk at the end. Nothing really graphic, just letting y'all know.

_Day 1_

 

I was annoyed.

More than annoyed, I was  _irritated_.

Everything was just going  _wrong_. I could see it. Ever since coming back, I was different.

There was something off about me.

There was too much wrong with me,.I knew that.

Everyone knew that.

Tony knew that.

Tony  _saw_  that.

Why else would he ground me from the lab?

The only reason I can see is that he thought I'd hurt myself.

_Like I did in the Cave._

Honestly...I think he was right.

He was right to lock me out.

It's for the best.

I know I should sleep...it would be better...

I'll give that a try.

  

==NM==

_Day 2_

  

I hadn't slept a wink.

Even worse,  _nothing was wrong because of it._

I knew the aftereffects of going without sleep. I'd been to college, I'd pulled all-nighters aplenty. Going without sleep led to things I  _knew._

There was nothing to fill my time with. I could watch TV shows from last year, or movies I missed in the Cave. None of those sounded fun right now.

I could read. That was a good way to fill the days...except I can't. I need to be doing something with my hands.

This is too long without  _work._

Beneath my feet there was noise. Metal against metal against metal music. Sometimes I pressed my bare feet against the floor so I could feel the humming.

I missed it.

 

 ==NM==

_Day 3_

  

_I hate Tony Stark!_

_I hate him! I hate him! I HATE HIM!_

There was  _nothing to do_  in this  _goddamn mansion_!

JARVIS was against me too. He was on Tony's side. Neither of them wanted me to do  _anything._

I couldn't find any more tech. The TV was stuck on the news (which ended up always being the Starks) so I couldn't watch it. I hated the beach so that was a lost cause. All of my books weren't keeping my attention.

What I wouldn't give for some good  _Sherlock Holmes_  book right now...

Except I couldn't. Because I was locked out of everything for my own mental sanity.

JARVIS decided that.

Tony gave him the go ahead.

_I hate being bored._

_I hate Tony Stark._

_I hate being Becky Stark._

 

 ==NM==

_Three Months Later_

  

There had been a string of attacks on their crime organization.

Not that Billy cared. He was just a henchman. All he had to worry about was loading the truck with the goods.

One such truck drove up to the warehouse. The truck drove inside, up to the loading zone.

Another henchman walked out. "Hey Billy." He greeted.

"Hey Bob." Billy greeted. He wasn't sure if Bob was his real name. Billy wasn't his real name. None of them used real names except the bosses.

Bob walked up to Billy. "You got the stuff?"

"It's all there." Billy motioned to the walls of crates in the warehouse. Billy was sure that the crates had drugs or guns inside. Billy wasn't paid to care.

The other henchmen started to load the truck. It was a loud process, and lengthy. Usually it took an hour, with all these crates it would take at least three. Hence why Bob brought the big loading truck.

The bosses were moving the product. There had been so many attack over the past week that the police were starting to notice things weren't on the up-and-up. The only solution was to leave town, start up someplace new. Billy heard a rumor it might be San Francisco, or maybe back to New York.

"So. How's the family?" Bob asked. The family was what they called their branch of the crime organization.

"You know how it is." Billy answered. "They're fightin' all the damn time."

"Heard about that." Bob hummed. "Someone took out Georgie, right?"

"They did. Boss' got a log up his ass about it." Billy went on. "Cause the next day, right, the exact next day, somebody popped off Mikey's leg and took out his group. All twenty of 'em, locked up in one night. This morning, right?" Billy clocked his fingers. "That was Freddy Lindo's crew."

"Lindo? That upstart?" Bob snorted.

Billy nodded. "I don't know who's doing it. I don't care about Lindo or that other asshole, Joe.  _He_  was picked out on an hour before Lindo. Some new crew is picking us off one by one. That's  _eighty_ people in three days. All of 'em, gone."

Bob made a loud scoffing noise.

"I know, right? It's mental." A woman cheered. "Good workout though."

Bob and Billy their heads to where the voice came from- the top of the truck. A woman was sitting at the top, her legs crossed over the edge. She grinned down at them.

"Oh. Did I go British for a minute there?" The woman asked herself. "Sorry. I watched  _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ , then I read a lot of fanfiction. Makes ya head voice topsy. Then  _that_  makes your normal voice topsy. Or is that just me?"

The woman was dressed up in an all blue skin tight suit. Billy thought she looked like a smurf. It didn't help that she was wearing a blue mask around her eyes.

Bob and Billy pulled out their guns. They aimed them at the woman. She wasn't phased in the slightest.

"I know. I'm insane. It's the pain, really." The woman excused. She swapped her crossed legs around, tapping the heel of her boots against the truck. "You see, that's what happens when you're trapped somewhere for three months, then left alone for two days, and are a woman. The third day was more of a half one so I don't count it."

"Who the hell are you?" Billy demanded.

"I'm bonkers now. Right round the bend I am. This is the worst kind of pain imaginable. You'll never be able to experience it, and I wish you could." The woman went on.

Bob cocked his gun.

The woman's head snapped up, some of her black hair flying around her head. She stared at Bob and Billy in surprise. "How long have you two been down there?"

Bob fired.

The woman rolled back in a somersault. She ran to the end of the truck, where the others had nearly finished loading.

"Hey guys! Take her out!" Billy shouted over the noise.

The others didn't understand until the woman jumped down from the top.

"Howdy boys! I will be your adversary this evening." She tipped an invisible hat. "Would have been here sooner, except I promised Tony I wouldn't use my powers." She gestured to the group. "You see how that went."

They all raised their guns and started firing. The woman avoided them all. She felt like she was fighting stormtroopers.

_(And she was looking forward to the real deal, might we say)_

All the while, she was  _talking_. "It's just...my period started on Wednesday. My period brain does what it wants." She excused, not at all apologetic. She dodged bullets like Neo. "Tony's gonna be pissed when he finds out I did this without him."

She made a dash to the wall of crates, climbing over them and  _still_ managing to avoid being hit.

"Stay still you bitch!" Billy shouted. He fired three more shots her direction.

She leapt over the wall. As the men ran after her, she pushed one of the crates down.

It crashed on the ground. It was one of the ones holding the drugs. The bags inside had opened, spilling colored pills everywhere.

As more men came after her, she pushed other crates to the ground. More were pills, others had guns.

She kept. Dodging. Bullets.

"Jesus Christ, will one of you dumb bastards hit this chick?!" Billy screamed at the henchmen.

They tried, bless their hearts.

"I  _started_  Thursday- no  _Wednesday_  night-which means I made the  _suit_  on Thursday. I took out Georgie and his Thursday night. It's Friday night." The woman leaned against one of the crates. The henchmen were reloading theirs weapons, she had time. "So I've been an active superhero for two days. When do I get the paycheck?"

Bob picked up one of the assault rifles. He fired it on the woman.

She grunted in pain. He'd made a hit.

The woman didn't go down. Her eyes widened, her face tightened where they could see it. She fell back against one of the crates.

They stopped firing, deciding she'd finally been taken down. This belief was disproved when she gasped out.

"Sorry no. It's just-" The woman grimaced. "Cramp." She let out a grunt of pain. She wrapped an arm around her waist, letting out a groan of pain. When she recovered she turned her head towards the others in the gang. "Whichever men don't get arrested tonight, go home to your wives of girlfriend. Tell them I have been shot, but this cramp hurts more. They should all believe it."

"What did you say about my wife?" Another henchman snarled. Billy thought his name was Phil.

The woman paused, inhaling and exhaling through the pain. "I didn't name names. I  _explicitly_  didn't say names. But buddy if you think what I said applies to you then I'm the least of your worries, aren't I?"

Phil fired a shot a her. When it bounced off her shoulder, falling on the ground with a clink. The way you could hear the woman's eyebrow go up.

"Look at that. I was right." She smiled, not in a good way. This smile  _scared_  them. "Your aim sucks."

The woman leapt down from the crate wall. She kicked Phil in the face with a high kick. She laughed as Phil fell back, screaming in pain.

"Re-taught myself  _Tai Shing Pek Kwar_." The woman explained. She leapt at another one of the guys, kicking him once in the chest then did a swirl kick on his back. "Had some time to kill. Tony locked me out of the lab for testing."

She moved too fast for the henchmen to realize what she was doing. They couldn't wrap their minds around someone brush off bullets. Especially not when she started fighting like a goddamn super ninja.

He was pretty sure they were unconscious, the woman was brutal but she didn't kill any of them. Billy watched Bob charge at her, as she took out the last of the loading crew. She grinned. Billy thought it looked like a lion grinning at an antelope.

The woman punched Bob in the throat. Bob choked, falling to his knees. The woman put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him still as she kneed him in the face. Bob fell over.

Billy realized, as Bob hit the ground, that he was the last one left.

"Last but not least, that guy!" The woman laughed. She moved to one of the broken crates, taking off a long piece of wood. "Don't feel bad but I'm calling you Eighty-Eight. It feels  _right_."

Billy ran.

The woman let out a loud groan. "The last guy always runs." She moved her arm back, preparing to throw the stick like a javelin.

Billy kept running. He was nearly at the truck. He would have made it too if that stick hadn't hit him in the back of the head. He collapsed against the side of the truck.

The woman slow walked to his side. She ran a hand through her hair, getting out some knots that had happened during the fight.

She stopped halfway to Billy though, clutching at her stomach again. "You know, Eighty-Eight, I enjoyed the last few days. I don't get a lot of chances to practice  _Tai Shing Pek Kwar_. Or vent. I mean, I was stuck in a cave for three months, there's a lot of venting to be done. They didn't give me enough food and stuff, ya know? So my body decided not to have a period, conserve blood and all that body stuff. I get back home, you'd think it start back up. It didn't. Apparently I wasn't being healthy  _enough_ , not until Wednesday."

The woman groaned. She pressed her back against the side of the truck, sliding down until she was on level with Billy. He watched her in fear. He wished he could get himself together enough to run. She'd hit him really hard.

" _Storyline_ , this feels like six periods  _at once_." The woman moaned in pain. She breathed harshly through her nose. "You have  _no_  idea what that's like, Eighty-Eight. I'm  _ninety-six_  years old. No period should hurt this bad. Aren't periods supposed to stop at like fifty anyway?"

Billy's eyes widened.

"Yeah." The woman motioned to her blue suit. "Looks good for ninety-six, huh?" She sighed. "I'm gonna be honest. This is the first I've felt like myself in a long time. I feel every day I've spent in this world I've been a twenty-something trying to be well...something. I was going through that identity crisis BS. I needed this, needed all the gangs and mobs and whatever you call yourselves. It's cathartic to clean up a city. You have  _no_  idea. It was better than watching Tony build his suit without me, or hovering over me. It's hard to be yourself when everyone around you wants the character you play."

Billy didn't want to argue. He liked his face the way it was.

"You know, I should add red to this. This much blue hurts my eyes." She mused. She turned to Billy, both still breathing through their respective pains. "What do you think-should I add red? Like a...hot rod red?"

"Uh." Billy swallowed. "Uh...yeah."

"Really? You're not just saying that so I won't kill you?" The woman asked. "Because I understand it if you are-"

"No, no. Red would look...nice." Billy winced.

The woman smiled. "Aww. And Momma told me to avoid gangsters." She tapped Billy on the nose. "Y'all are sweeties."

A phone started to ring.

The woman paused.

Billy was panting in fear.

The woman sighed, long suffering.

She put her hand down the neck of her suit, pulling a smartphone out from her bra. She answered the phone. "Hello this is: you called me, you should know who I am. What's up?...of course I turned off location services, why?...I felt extra paranoid today, okay? Just tell him that...okay, okay, I'll come home...keep To- uh Dad from being stupid until I'm back...oh awesome!" She ended the call, stuffing the phone back in her bra.

Billy was still panting in fear.

The woman sighed. "I'm gonna be honest with ya, Eighty-Eight. The cops'll be in here in two minutes. I've got better things to do then make sure they arrest all of you. I've got some new equipment that just finished constructing itself, and a foster father who's about to have a panic attack. The next visit from me is gonna be  _explosive._  Just tell your bosses-ya know if you get the chance-that Night Mistress is coming...whenever she feels like it."

She punched Billy in the face. He blacked out.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I just made you all read that.
> 
> I figured this way a great way to get Becky/Morgan going. A chance for her to get back to her feet. A lot of you have noted how Morgan didn't feel like Morgan in this fic, and I get that. She wasn't supposed to. Something terrible happened to her, she wasn't going to be 100% after that. Trauma does weird things to people.
> 
> Plus I wanted to give Morgan an excuse to have this fight scene.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy Infinity War. I'm seeing it Friday (I can't make it to a Thursday showing. Boo) so I'll be recovering from that for the weekend.


	14. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Infinity War killer me. Hopefully it killed The rest of you too and we can suffer together.

Storming into the mansion, I tossed my workout bag on the floor. My Night Mistress suit was inside.

_ “Welcome back, Becky.” _

“Don’t sass me, Uncle JARVIS.” I pointed a warning finger at the ceiling. “I’m in one of my bad moods this morning.” My leg was smarting just a bit from when I hit one of the goons with my thigh. Fun tip: don’t do that.

_ “I shall make a note of that. Is the same mood, or different from the previous three days?” _

“I’m...not gonna answer that.” I reached up to my hair to pull it in a ponytail. “So what’s gone wrong? You called me because To- _ Dad _ was freaking out.”

_ “Sir is downstairs in the lab.” _

“Is the door ‘ _ mysteriously’ _ locked again?”

_ “No. He requested your presence.” _ JARVIS admitted.

I raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. Walking towards the lab to the stairs, I spoke over the loud music bleeding through the glass wall.

“He lifted the ban again? Much faster than last time.”

_ “In Sir’s defense, you did cause one of the rockets to explode.” _

“Dum-E hit me with the fire extinguisher, okay?!” I defended myself.

JARVIS had no reply.

“Whatever. What does the Great Tony Stark need me for?”

_ “Fire safety.” _

“Of course he does.”

 

==NM==

 

Tony was standing in the middle of the launch pad. The fire extinguisher was in my hand, locked and loaded. Dum-E was off to the side, despondent, making a smoothie.

“Day eleven, test thirty-seven, configuration 2.0.” Tony reported. “Due to a complete disregard for human life, Becky is on fire safety.”

I clicked my tongue. “I don’t know, my opinion of you is low right now.” I smirked at him with all the grace a Stark had for smirking.

“If you douse me and I’m not on fire, I’m disowning you.” Tony warned.

“Disown me and I tell  _ Pepper _ .” I countered, victoriously.

Tony’s face twisted up for a split second. “Alright. Fine. Do what you want.”

I snickered, propping my feet up on a nearby table. The fire extinguisher was aimed at Tony for safety reasons. 

“All right, nice and easy.” Tony held his arms out. I pulled out my Starkphone, pulling up the designs for my Night Mistress suit. “Seriously, just gonna start off with one percent thrust capacity. And three, two, one.”

While he was flying I was adding some splotches of red to my suit. The outfit was looking better by the second.

“Okay.” Tony congratulated himself. “What are you doing? You’re on your phone. Are you even paying attention to me right now?”

“Totally paying attention.” I replied without looking up from the phone. “If you start screaming in pain, then I know it’s time to spray you.”

Tony clapped his hands. He turned to Dum-E. “See that? That’s how fire safety works.” I snorted at him, paying more attention to the phone. “And again, let’s bring it up to two point five. Three, two, one.”

Meanwhile, I was working on my suit. It would need pockets (said every girl ever). So that meant I’d need a utility belt, which _ sucked _ . I hated restocking utility belts. It was such a pain.

“Okay, this is where I don’t want to be! Not the car, not the car!” Tony cried out. 

“You’re being loud. Are you dying?” I called out.

Tony yelped. “Table!”

“That’s a no on the dying. So shut up.”

“Could be worse! Could be worse!” Tony continued to rant as he made his landing. I did my best to tune him out. “Becky, fire safety?”

“You’re not on fire.”

“Great. Good. Awesome. You here that, Dummy? You can stop hovering.”

“Hey Dum-E, can I have a smoothie?” I requested. The bot beeped happily. He immediately set off to make the smoothie.

“You  _ want  _ one of those death traps?” Tony asked.

“You  _ want _ Dum-E to steal the fire extinguisher?”

Tony didn’t have an response. Instead he went to JARVIS for the the final programs for his suit.

The design on my suit was alright so far. I was switching around some reds and blues.

_ ‘The mask should stay blue, right? It was so much...I’d hate to make it red. Plus the blue really made my eyes pop. The red is just too showy...then again I’m putting red in the suit in the first place.’ _

“Yeah, I can fly. JARVIS, are you there?” Tony requested.

_ “At your service, sir.”  _ His voice came from the nearby computers. While my focus was on the Night Mistress suit design, I rolled over to view them.

“Engage Heads Up Display.”

_ “Check.” _

“Import all preferences from home interface.”

_ “Will do, sir.” _

“All right, what do you say?”

_ “I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We’re online and ready.” _

“Can we start the virtual walk-around?”

_ “Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment.” _

“Do a check on control surfaces.”

_ “As you wish.” _

I glanced over at Tony. He added the exterior parts of the suit. The whole thing looked impressive up close. In the new shine I could see my reflection!

_ “Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics.” _

“Yeah. Tell you what.” Tony began.

_ “Oh, I’m liking where this goes.” _

“Yeah this’ll make me laugh.” I decided.

“Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control.” Tony carried on as if we hadn’t spoken.

I chuckled. “Knew it. ”

_ “Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual  _ flight _ is-” _

“JARVIS. Sometimes you got to _ run _ before you can  _ walk _ .”

“Should I even go there with parenting techniques, or just enjoy the fact I’ll be an orphan in an hour?” I mused. Though I was joking, a part of me was _ genuinely  _ scared Tony wouldn’t make it back.

Tony pointed a metal finger at me. Though the suit was intimidating, it was less so when I’d built it. The expression on the robot was blank. “Community college for you!”

“Pfft. I’ll be able to afford a real college once this flight kills you.”

“I’m just gonna...tune out your negativity.”

“All logic is negative to you!”

Tony was apparently set on the ignoring me thing. “Ready? In three, two, one.”

The launchers on his feet activated. They lifted him a foot off the ground.

That was all he needed to know his suit could sustain flight. Without another word, he blasted off up out of the garage ramp.

“Hey, Uncle JARVIS!” I called out.

_ “Yes, Becky?” _ JARVIS asked.

“What’s a better color on me; red or gold?” I threw down the sheets of paper I had been drawing on.

_ “Red, though I suggest some bits of gold work well on you as well.”  _ JARVIS replied.

“You’re the best, JARVIS. That’s why it rhymes.”

“Handles like a dream.” Tony mused. His voice was coming out of the computers beside me.

_ ‘Oh yay. I get to be the IT department.’ _

“JARVIS is there a way I can see what he sees?” I requested, pulling up to a keyboard on the screen. My phone was placed down beside it for the time being.

_ “Of course. Give one moment to configure the settings.” _ JARVIS replied.

The screens on the computers changed. I could see out of the IronMan eyes. There were also status reports on Tony’s life signs, the weather, air control, and other basic functions for the Mock 2.

As I read off the reports, I picked my phone back up. Opening the notepad I took notes on the screen inputs. At least four things on the screen would be useful for Night Mistress.

(Though I was diligent in my notes, I was still able to see that kid drop his ice cream. He was just so precious!)

“All right, let’s see what this thing can do. What’s SR-71’s record?” Tony asked over the comms.

“85,000 feet.” I reported. Tony’s curious face showed on another screen. “Pub quiz.” I excused.

“Alright. Records are made to be broken!” Tony’s face display was replaced with height warnings. “Come on!”

_ “Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring.” _

“Keep going!” Tony grunted in exehurtion.

“Dad, he’s serious!” I moved closer to the computer screen. “If the buildup goes, I don’t know if you’ll be able to reactivate the systems!”

_ “Re _ -activate? When did they _ un- _ activate!?” Tony asked in panic.

True to Stark brand luck, that was when my screens went dark.

_ “Shit!”  _ I screamed, in what I would later realize was Arabic. The surprise of my own shout caused me to jump up in my chair. Thank goodness it was the rolling kind.

The shout had taken a lot of my air. Or it was close to it. As hard as I tried to take in more air my lungs weren’t agreeing.

_ He was flying up...up...up...losing air...losing air like he was drowning...oh my author he’s drowning...they’re drowning us...I can’t breathe...it hurts to breathe. _

The computers kicked back on. Tony Stark let out an excited scream of joy. It gave me some sense of peace. The kind of peace that comes right before  _ ‘holy shit he’s such an idiot thank storyline he’s still alive I’m going to murder him.’ _

“Kill power.”

Then he crashed through two stories and landed on a car.

I picked up the fire extinguisher, walking up to his side.

He had enough time to lift up his head before I fired. 

 

==NM==

 

He was still cleaning out the muck from his hair when he noticed Pepper’s package.

“You’re proud of yourself, kid.” Tony remarked. He ran the towel over his hair.

I was playing  _ Poptropica _ on his laptop. My latest record for finishing an island was the minutes, I was getting it down to nine. Right now it was at six. “You landed on a car. Forgive me for thinking the car was about to blow up.”

“It wasn’t.” Tony argued. He moved the coffee cup off the package.

“Maybe it was. We’ll never be sure, now.”  _ ‘Just two more minutes...I can beat my own record...come on, Poptropica-Me, come on! Run faster!’ _

“Hey. Look at what Pepper got us.” Tony called over.

I leaned against the counter, high enough to see him holding the box. It wasn’t high enough to see the actual thing. So I left my laptop, mentally pausing the timer on my Poptropica game. 

Seeing what was in his hands made my breath skip. I could still remember the first time I held that reactor, over Tony’s chest in a less rushed heart surgery. The scene with him on the stairs played in my mind’s eye. 

For his sake, I threw on a smile and added a snort. “ _ ‘Proof Tony Stark Has a Heart’ _ .”

“Yeah. Funny.” He replied, looking down at the award with a thoughtful expression.

“You do have one, ya know.”  _ ‘I held it in my hands.’ _

“Huh?”

“You have a heart. Didn’t need the reactor to see that.”

Tony smiled, thankful. He reached over to me. He rested his hand on my shoulder. He gave a single squeeze. The look on his face was longing, like he wanted to say something back but couldn’t figure out how the words worked in his mouth.

My hand reached up to his, squeezing it back.

He got the message.


	15. Chapter 14

While Tony was working on his Iron Man suit, I was fixing up another Palladium Core Anti-Effect smoothie. He can say all he wants about these things, they’re keeping him alive longer.

I put the drink on the table in front of him. Without complaint or missing a beat on his specs, Tony grabbed it.

“Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude.” Tony noted. “Hull pressurization is problematic.” He made a quick noise of pain as he jostled his wound. I’m thinking icing is the probable factor.”

_ “A very astute observation, sir.”  _ JARVIS agreed with his trademark sass. I laughed out loud, not ashamed.  _ “Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should improve the exosystems.” _

“Isn’t it ironic that you put ice on your ice wound?” I teased, a serious look on my face.

“It’s not an ice wound, it’s a wound I got from falling two stories.” Tony argued.

“Which happened because of the ice.” I countered.

“Connect to the sys-co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals.” Tony carried on, ignoring me. Above my head, JARVIS made a pleased metallic hum. “Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?”

He made a face at the first sip. I’d had some myself, mostly to make sure it wasn’t toxic like Dum-E’s, and it tasted like shit.

He glanced up at me. I gave him an innocent smile that promised I’d do whatever it took to get that mix down his throat short of holding him down.

_ “Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications?”  _ JARVIS asked.

Tony put the emptied out glass down. My smiled turned to teasingly proud. He smirked right back. “Thrill me.”

_ “Tonight’s red-hot red carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall-” _

“Disney? What? Huh?” I rotated in my spot to face the TV. “Who said Disney?”

_ “-where Tony Stark’s third annual benefit for the Firefighter’s Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.’s high society.” _

“Oh it’s disappointment Disney.”

“JARVIS, we get an invite for that?” Tony asked.

_ “I have no record of an invitation, sir.”  _ JARVIS answered. For an AI, he sounded just as confused as Tony.

“Huh.” I mused.

_ “-hasn’t been seen in public since Stark’s bizarre and highly controversial press conference. His daughter, Rebecca Stark, was also in attendance. _ ”

Tony held the mask up to his face.

I made a face. “What’re you doing?”

“Testing the visual.” Tony replied as if it was obvious. “The suit powered down after the ice. Wanna see how this looks when I’m upright.”

The comment made me wince in sympathy. During the fall it made me panic. After, it reminded me of a hard drop on a rollercoaster that I didn’t ask to ride.

_ “-some claim the Stark family are suffering from post-traumatic stress and have been bedridden for weeks.” _

_ ‘That was definitely Obadiah.’  _ I thought to myself. Somewhere in the back of my mind a nasty idea popped up. Considering it for a moment, I put a pin in it. That would do for the morning.  _ ‘Man I come up with the most deadly Plans on my period.’ _

_ “Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from them tonight.” _

“And so she dropped a gauntlet.” Came my reply.

Tony smirked, the rest of his face twisted up in some kind of vague thing looking like  _ thought _ .

_ “The render is complete.”  _ JARVIS informed. He pulled the image up of an all gold Iron Man.

A long and low snort came out of me. Tony waved a hand at me to shut me up. “A little ostentatious, don’t you think?”

_ “What was I thinking? You’re usually so discreet.”  _ JARVIS deadpanned.

“He beat me by one second!”

“Tell you what.” Tony stopped my rapidly formed laughing fit. “Throw a little hot-rod red in there.”

_ “Yes, that should help you keep a low profile.” _

Okay it didn’t stop my fit. I was laughing so hard I had to clutch my stomach. “Low profile...you...ha!”

“I can do low profile.” Argued the weaker second generation of Stark.

“Name one time.” Countered the ever superior third generation of Stark.

Tony couldn’t. He couldn’t name one time. Couldn’t even make one up, the smug bastard. “Tell you what. Let’s put a pin in that, come back to it later.”

_ “The renders are complete.” _

“Hey, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it.”

_ “Commencing automated assembly.”  _ JARVIS answered.  _ “Estimated completion time is five hours.” _

Tony glanced down at his watch. He waved up at the ceiling with his other hand. “Don’t wait up for me, honey.” He ran off to get dressed.

I looked up at the ceiling, waiting until Tony shut the door to his lab before speaking.

“JARVIS?” I began.

_ “Yes, Becky?” _

“I’m sending you a render.” On my phone, I pulled up the Night Mistress suit design. “Plus the access to the materials. They’re all in house. How long will it take?”

There was a pause.  _ “Sir won’t like this.” _ JARVIS added.

“I don’t like what he’s doing, if it helps.” Was my assurance. “Will it be done before his?”

_ “Yes. Though the suit might be tight.”  _ JARVIS cautioned.

“That’s alright. The material will be stretched out before long.” I assured. 

_ “Much longer than I believe you know. Sir wanted me to tell you to pick out a dress.”  _ JARVIS answered.

I tensed. “What?”

_ “I don’t think Sir liked the reporter’s implications of your wellbeing.” _ JARVIS answered. _ “He is rather insistent you come with.” _

My jaw lowered and rose as I tried to come up with arguments. Tell him no. I gotta help make my suit-

_ “Becky, I recommend you go with him. You both are in need of some time away from this house.” _

I realized that I wasn’t beating my record on Poptropica tonight, either. 

 

==NM==

 

The most unbelievable thing about this whole night was that Tony had bought me a dress. 

I’d found a dress in Becky’s closet. She didn’t have a lot. Going to functions like this one were out of the normal. The dress had been from the Apogee awards before...just before. The only other dresses were too small for me now, or not suited for a black-tie event.

JARVIS apparently alerted Tony about it. Tony drove me to a fancy boutique, telling me JARVIS had already picked out my dress. 

The dress was lovely, I thought as I walked the red carpet. JARVIS had learned my dress sense. The dress was bright orange with a thick black ring around my waist. It went down my ankles (the shoes had been added too. Heels were a no. Tony bought me a pair of flats), in case I tripped. Despite being trained in multiple forms of martial arts, I was a clutz when anxious.

Tony pulled the fast car up to the event. I was nervously fiddling with my leather clutch purse. Yep. Purse. Apparently the Bag wasn’t fancy enough for a black-tie event. Tony had to buy me a matching black purse. It was  _ literally  _ the most  _ useless  _ thing in the history of  _ things _ .

He caught my nervous fidgeting. He held one of my hand’s. I jumped in my seat.

“Don’t worry, Becks.” Tony assured. “It’s gonna be good. We’ll show off to the paps, freak out the board, and have a  _ party _ .”

“Parties are  _ your  _ thing. I’d rather stay home and work on the suit.” I countered.

“Come on. No Stark left behind.” Tony chided. “If I gotta go to this thing, so do you.”

“We’re  _ crashing  _ it. We didn’t  _ have  _ to go!”

“It’s our party. They didn’t invite us. How rude is that?”

“Ugh I hate you.”

“Feeling’s mutual, kid.”

Tony opened the door. He held the door open for me. Bracing myself, I walked through.

Once I climbed out of the car, Morgan Spencer came out to play. I put on my best smirk, a confident skip in my step, and added a splash of sarcasm to my voice. I greeted reporters (some I remembered from the first conference back, others from the view clips of the news cycle I’d seen), and made sure the ones I didn’t know saw me in action.

Soon enough, I was far enough on the red carpet to see Stane.

My body tensed. I forced myself to relax the tension. Stane would not get to me tonight. I was Night Mistress. The better part of the last two days had been spent making me stronger. Strong enough to beat someone like  _ him _ . I didn’t need to be afraid.

Just when I thought I had convinced myself of the truth, Tony stepped in beside Stane.

“What’s the world coming to when a guy’s got to crash his own party?” Tony teased Stane.

“Look at you. Hey, what a surprise.” Stane replied back, surprised at Tony’s presence.

“Becky and I’ll see you inside.” Tony informed him. He patted him on the back before turning to meet with me.

That got Stane’s attention. He followed Tony’s path before his eyes landed on me. I gave him a smug grin in return.

He stopped Tony in his tracks. My fist clenched at my side. 

“Hey. Listen, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them.” Stane told him.

“You got it. Just cabin fever.” Tony shrugged off Stane’s concern. “We’ll just be a minute.”

Tony walked up to me.

“How’d I do?” I asked him.

Tony grinned, proud. “Not bad for a first run.”

I snorted. “ _ Meaning _ I crushed it.” So I clapped my hands, walking towards the building leaving Tony behind.

He followed shortly after.

Yes that was a joke about him being shorter than me. I’m not apologizing for it.

 

==NM==

 

Once inside, I walked up to the bar. Yeah I was twenty but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a virgin Shirley Temple.

I slapped my purse down on the bar. “Virgin Shirley.” The bartender nodded, even as Tony came up beside me.

“Give me a Scotch. I’m starving.” He ordered.

The bartender got to making our drinks.

“Mr. Stark?” Coulson greeted from our side.

Tony and I turned to him. “Yeah?”

“Agent Coulson.” He reminded us.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the...”

“The thing with the stuff.” I supplied for him.

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” Coulson explained for us.

“God, you need a new name for that.” Tony sighed as the bartender gave him his drink.

“Yeah, I hear that a lot.” Coulson replied. I snorted. The bartender slipped me my own. I gave him a smile in thanks. “Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you and your family, but we need to debrief you. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a factor with these things.”

I took another gulp of the temple. A small sigh fell out of my mouth when I didn’t taste alcohol. 

“Let’s just put something on the books.” Coulson continued.

Tony’s eyes found Pepper then. I’m surprised he didn’t choke on his drink.

“Yeah.” I hid a chuckle behind another sip of my drink. “Let’s do that.”

“How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?” Coulson offered which really meant it was a set thing and Stark couldn’t avoid it any longer.

Tony hadn’t been listening. He stretched his hand out Coulson. He didn’t look away from Pepper.

“Tell you what. You got it. You’re absolutely right.” Coulson shook his head. “Well, I’m going to go to my assistant, and we’ll make a date.” He walked a beeline to Pepper.

I snorted. Agent Coulson turned to me. “Yes, Miss Stark?”

“You know he meant he was going on a date with Pepper. Right?” I remarked to him, pulling out my phone to text Happy the good news. “I’ve been trying to get them together for ages.”

Coulson grinned. This smug little grin that was just so  _ cute. _

In the throng of the party, Pepper looked through the crowd to see me. I waved my fingers at her, sipping on the shirley. She shook her head, rolling her eyes tiredly at Tony. I could practically hear what she was saying- about bringing me to this party. Too bad I didn’t get super hearing.

“What about you?”

That’s when I remember Coulson was still next to me. “What  _ about  _ me?”

“A meeting.” Coulson pointed out. “There are a lot a questions that need answering. Questions your father can’t answer for us.”

“So what, you think I could?” I asked.

Coulson kept up his neutral expression. Well neutral enough to have the smile. “Yes. We do.”

I hummed. With a quick scan of the party, I saw Christine in the distance. She was mingling with other party goers.

“You know, I’ve got ten minutes?” I offered.

“This will take a lot longer than ten minutes.” Coulson informed.

“Drat.” I sighed. “Maybe...two weeks from right now?”

Coulson smiled. Again it was  _ adorabl _ e. “It’s a date.” He glanced to the party. 

“He’s on the balcony with Pepper.” I informed him, smiling around another sip of the shirley temple. My phone buzzed in my purse. “Oh that’s Happy. Be right back!”

Running off to the bathrooms, I answered Happy’s call.

“You get my text?”

_ “What do you mean Tony and Pepper were dancing?! You mean together?!” _

 

==NM==

 

After the conversation to Happy, explaining the night’s events between Tony and Pepper, I went back to the bar. Coulson was long gone.

My drink was gone too. I went to the bar to give it back.

“Another, Ma’am?” The bartender asked.

I shook my head. “Thanks though.”

“Hey kid.” Tony greeted as he walked up behind me. He huffed out a breath, leaning against the bar. “Two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast.” He slipped the bartender the money. “Make one of them dirty, will you?”

When the bartender walked away, I whistled.

“Stop it.”

“You and Pepper. Wow.”

“That- that right there. Stop it.”

“Does the ring come on the second date, or the third?” I teased.

“You know what? You’re disowned. I disown you.”

“Wow my dad’s scared of commitment. That- that tells me good stuff about my future.”

“Double disowned.”

“Is that a thing?”

“I just made it a thing.” Tony argued. He sighed when he saw something over my shoulder. “Shit.”

“Past screw or reporter?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder despite knowing fully well who it was. “Oh it’s  _ both _ .”

“Shut up.” Tony warned, giving me a look. 

“I was disowned- I can say what I want.”

“Wow. Tony Stark.” Christine remarked. “And his mysterious daughter, Rebecca.”

“Oh, hey.” Tony greeted awkwardly.

“I prefer Miss Stark.” I corrected her, hiding it’s sternness under a polite smile.

Christine’s smile was less polite more strained. “Fancy seeing you here. Together. For the first time.”

“Carrie.” Tony guessed.

“Christine.” She and I corrected.

“That’s right.” Tony covered up his earlier fumble.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight.” Christine remarked. My hand tightened on my purse. “Can I at least get a reaction from you?”

“Panic. I would say panic is my reaction.” Tony answered.

“Stress over here. So much stress.” I admitted. My fingers tightened on the purse again- sure to leave dents in the leather.

“‘Cause I was referring to your company’s involvement in this latest atrocity.” Christine replied.

My hand squeezed again. Now I could feel the objects in my purse through the leather.

“Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation, and gave me a plus one. I don’t know what to tell you.” Tony shrugged.

“I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker.” Christine scoffed at herself.

“We were out of town for a couple months, in case you didn’t hear.” Tony snarked, narrowing his eyes at Christine now.

“Is this what you call accountability?” She pulled out the pictures. She handed Tony the pictures.

Against my better judgment, I looked at them.

It showed a village in the desert. Men with guns were aiming at civilians. Stark weapons were being used, including the Jericho.

We said nothing.

Just stared at the pictures.

“It’s a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?” Christine asked us.

“Once.” I answered in a soft voice.

The echo of Yinsen’s voice was in my mind, his calm words as we operated on my father’s chest.

His words as I was drowned in water.

As I was forced on my knees with burning coal over my mouth.

The burning feeling of the eyes of men, staring at my legs and the torn up skirt.

Watching Yinsen’s die, because I hadn’t changed it.

Just...watching everything fall.

My fingers broke the leather on my purse.

“When were these taken?” Tony asked, barely breaking through my mental fog.

I grabbed the corner of a photo. Tony held tighter to them, so I moved closer to see.

“Yesterday.” Christine answered with a snap.

“I didn’t approve any shipment.” Tony replied.

“This  _ never _ crossed my desk, either.” I remarked, sternly. I was supposed to get  _ every  _ report- and I had been. Until those damn three months...

“Are you sure? Christine asked. “Or did the Merchant of Death just pass the title on to the next Stark? What do you think the papers will call you, the Mistress of Death?”

I glared at her. My non-purse hand clenched in a fist so hard I heard my bones creak. 

“No, cause when we make a shipment Pepper gives me a copy of the transaction report. If I say it didn’t cross my desk, then we didn’t approve of  _ this _ .”

_ This monstrosity. This thing that should not exist because Yinsen’s home should not have been so disgraced. Because Tony Stark and I stopped producing weapons- and told all our factories to  _ stop _. Under no circumstances do you make more weapons. Ever. _

_ Especially not on Yinsen’s  _ home _. _

“Well, your company did.” Christine argued harshly.

“Well, we’re not our company.” Dad marched away.

Staring Christine in the eyes, I tore the pictures in half.

I marched after Tony, squeezing the clutch tighter in my fist.

 

==NM==

 

When I made it outside, Tony was already speaking with Stane.

“Please, do you mind?” Stane was telling the reporters, trying to get away from them.

“Have you seen these pictures?” Tony asked.

I grabbed Stane by the arm, dragging him to the side. They were both surprised at the strength in my grip.

“What’s going on in Gulmira?” Tony demanded. 

“What did you do?” I growled.

“Tony, Rebecca.” Stane sighed. He sighed like we were idiots. “You can’t afford to be this naive.”

“You know what? I was naive before, when they said,  _ ‘Here’s the line. We don’t cross it. This is how we do business.’ _ If we’re double-dealing under the table... Are we?” Tony asked.

My hands clenched on what they were holding. Stane winced.

“ _ I  _ was naive, when I thought  _ you  _ could be  _ trusted _ .” I hissed at him.

“Tony, Miss Stark, your picture, please!” A reporter requested.

Stane grinned. “Let’s take a picture. Come on.”

The two men turned to the reporters. Somehow I ended up between them, with Stane’s hand on my shoulder, holding it tighter. Tony held the other in a vice. I’m sure without my healing it would hurt worse.

“Tony. Rebecca.” Stane leaned closer to me. “Who do you think locked you out?”

Tony’s hand held tighter to me. He tried to pull me closer to him, further from Stane. Stane kept his hold on my shoulder. I didn’t get far.

“I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you both.” Stane lied.

_ Boldly. _

My arm grabbed Stane’s, holding him down closer to my level.

“I will  _ break your bones _ .” I promised him. My voice had dropped low, and dangerous. To the cameras, my smile was charming and happy. “Then heal them, and re-break them. Your organs will be pulled from your body and stuffed back inside. Backwards. Sideways. Depends on my mood and the organ. I’ll make you swallow your own gallbladder- just for kicks.”

The two men were doing their best to hide their surprise at the viciousness in my voice.

“Stane...you’ve made quite possibly the biggest mistake of your life. Wanna know what that was?” I pulled him closer. “You messed with what was  _ mine _ , and you did it  _ twice _ .”

Stane grinned at me. “You sound stressed, Rebecca.”

My hand gripped tighter on his arm. Stane didn’t show it easily, but it hurt. It  _ had  _ to hurt. I’d done this on dozens of the guys I’d beat up in the past week, and they all screamed.

“I shouldn’t have given you  _ one _ .”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is. Work sucks, I’m working 30+ hours a week, plus 14 at my other jobs, and 10 hours of school. Fuck my life.
> 
> But I refuse to let it all keep me from updating!


	16. Chapter 15

How we got from the party back to the house was a blur.

JARVIS turned on the TV when we stormed into the lab. He must have switched it to another news station, one that was covering the news story about Gulmira.

I couldn’t look at it. Instead I oversaw the finishing touches to my suit. 

_ “The 15-mile hike to the outskirts of Gulmira can only be described as a descent into hell, into a modern day Heart of Darkness.” _

Tony sat on the couch. He was working on the pulsors in the arm. Behind the couch, I was working on my boots.

_ “Simple farmers and herders from peaceful villages have been driven from their homes, displaced from their lands by warlords emboldened by a new-found power. Villagers have been forced to take shelter in whatever crude dwellings they can find in the ruins of other villages, or here in the remnants of an old Soviet smelting plant.” _

I tightened the metallic latches on my boots. Once they were tight enough I moved to grab the rest of my gear. Tony was too wrapped up in the news broadcast to notice.

_ “Recent violence has been attributed to a group of foreign fighters referred to by locals as the Ten Rings.” _

My legs were halfway in the suit’s pants when Rasa’s face graced the screen. Not gonna lie, hearing that name and seeing Rasa’s face pissed me off. The only saving grace was the eye patch over his eye- the one I shot in that cave. That was  _ the definition _ of satisfying.

_ “As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission. A mission that could prove fatal to anyone who stands in their way.” _

Tony got up off the couch. He walked over to the lab’s kitchen. While the news played I was putting on the blue pants.

_ “With no political will or international pressure, there’s very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia.” _

Tony fired at the lights across the room.

_ “Desperate refugees clutch yellowed photographs, holding them up to anyone who will stop. A child’s simple question, ‘Where are my mother and father?’” _

I latched on an arm blaster. As the light Tony had shot dangled from the ceiling, I blasted the other end.

Tony turned to me. He looked pissed off.

_ “There’s very little hope for these refugees, refugees who can only wonder who, if anyone, will help.” _

“No.” He told me.

“Dad. I need-”

“No.”

“You don’t know what I was going to say.”

“Yeah but I know that face. It was the same face you made in that damn cave.” Tony raged. “You’re not going!”

“Too bad!” I argued back. Raising the arm blaster again, I fired on the TV. It had Rasa’s face on it again- poetic. “We go together. That the only option.”

“Yes there is! You staying here,  _ that’s  _ the only option!” Tony yelled.

I scoffed, grabbing the utility belt I had stocked up.

“Rebecca!” Tony warned.

And suddenly, all I heard was Stane’s voice. All the times he had called me  _ ‘Rebecca’ _ since I arrived in this world. All the times he has set me up to  _ die _ !

“ _ Miss Stark.” _ JARVIS’s voice broke through my rising panic. 

It was needed. Helpful. I let out a relieved sigh. “Yes?”

_ “The rest of your gear is ready.” _

“Not you too!” Tony snapped. “JARVIS-”

_ “Apologies, Sir.” _ JARVIS replied. We could both tell he didn’t actually mean it.  _ “Miss Stark requested the equipment. I saw no reason to refuse.” _

“No reason?! She’ll get herself killed!” Tony raged.

That made me snort again. “I can’t die. We’ve seen that.”

“No-”

“You need someone to watch your six.” I countered. “I’m not letting you go in there alone. Not again.  _ End of discussion.” _

 

==NM==

 

While Tony finished getting on his suit, I put on the rest of mine.

Over my eyes I had a half-face mask. It had been installed with a display that was JARVIS enabled. The same for the comms in my ear. Above the red bodysuit and blue pants, I had the utility belt. There was just smoke bombs in there in case of emergencies. There were also  Over my head I had a steel blue jacket hoodie, ringed with bright right. The sleeves stretched down to my arm blasters. 

In terms of weapons, I mostly had the blue metal bo staff strapped to my back. There was a small pistol in one of the supply packs (with extra ammo), spare knives in my jacket sleeves, and I equipped the bo staff magnetize to my back (Captain America wasn’t just good for World War 2 paraphernalia). On my feet I had rocket shoes disguised as steel blue pump boots. All in all, I was proud of the new look.

Once Tony was all set in his suit, I showed off some of my skills with the bo staff. He was glaring at me from beneath the helmet. I just grinned.

 

==NM==

 

When I teleported to Gulmira, I was bombarded by the sounds of villagers screaming and gunfire. 

At the sight of me- wearing bright red and blue, I was hard to miss-the Ten Rings soldiers began shooting at me.

_ Man was I glad these clothes were bulletproof armor. _

_ Thank you, Edna Mode, for your lovely (albeit stolen by me) bulletproof jumpsuit formula. _

After giving them a second ( _ alright I gave them  _ two) to realize their bullets did nothing, I pulled the bo staff off my back. I used it to whack them both like it was a baseball bat. They fell to the ground in undignified lumps.

“Well that was just  _ sad _ .” I mused. Swinging the staff back on my back, I marched towards the sound of gunfire. “Is it so bad to have  _ standards _ when fighting terrorists?”

There was no reply over the comma, from JARVIS or from Tony.

“That settles this. I’m building another AI.” I told myself. Just as I said that I spotted a large truck, gathering stolen supplies and surrounded by both the Ten Rings and civilians. “This other AI, she’ll be  _ boss _ . Okay? Totally boss. She’ll talk to me when these two are giving me the silent treatment.”

As I marched toward the truck, I heard gunfire to the side. Two of the Ten Ring soldiers were busting into a house. I ran as they continued firing at them.

By the time they noticed me, I had already clipped them both. Guy #1 in the back with the bo staff (should paralyze him, if I remembered to do the move correctly. Otherwise he was dead  _ oh well) _ . Guy #2 was shot in the head- while he was standing over a crying family.

“And she’ll be...Fucking Real, ya know? F-R. Good first initials.” Family safe, I made my way out of the house.

In common courtesy I took these dead bodies with me.

Just my luck, five guys were waiting for me outside.

“Fucking  _ Really?” _ I asked them, dropping their dead comrades at my feet. “You know- I was  _ trying  _ to be nice. My good deed for the day, ya know?”

They all fired at me. I didn’t blink. Simply picked up Guy #2’s rifle and fired. Five rounds, five dead guys. 

“Ooh. That’s better. ‘Fucking Really’. What should next?” I glanced at the seven dead men (while never confirmed if Guy #1 was dead or knocked out), then at the two I had killed at first landing. “Idiotic. Yeah, Idiotic.”

_ “What’s idiotic?” _ Tony’s voice came in over my ear.

“People.” I replied. Lifting the gun up for defense, I stepped over the dead terrorists. “Like people who show up ten minutes late.”

_ “You can teleport hundreds of miles away. Why are you calling  _ me _ idiotic?” _

Yeah do it turns out, the teleporting has  _ limits.  _ Places I had been before, or could see, where all green-lit. Places I hadn’t been? Those were a no-go.

I teleported to the area surrounding the Cave my first try. 

The second brought me to the walk from the news.

The third took me to what I  _ assume _ was an American military base in the area.

The fourth was, well this place. 

“You’re just jealous that my flight got upgraded to first class  _ and yours didn’t.” _

_ “Shut up. This suit is high class.” _

I clicked my tongue. While also shooting three terrorists running up to another house. “Mile-high, maybe.”

_ “What? We’re seriously talking about my status on the Mile-High club?” _

“As your child, I have a right to say you should never have been allowed in that club.”

_ “That’s...fair.” _

“Damn right it’s fair.” I looked back to the truck. They were about to shoot the father in front of his family. “You overhead?”

_ “T-minus thirty. Why?” _

“Come to my location. Gonna need backup.”

_ “Hey now! We agreed  _ you  _ were the backup-” _

“Too late.” I ran towards them.

Pulling the knife out of my sleeves, I launched them at two terrorists. They landed right in the back of their skulls. I ran up to them, pulling the knives out while wiping the blood on their dirty jackets.

Who cares if they were infected now? At least that promised more pain for the next guys.

“Fucking Really Idiotic Damn Assholes.” I mused, sliding the knives back into their hidden slots in my sleeves. “Yeah.”

That was when Iron Man landed.

He killed five of them before I made it to their line of sights. He killed the next five as I helped others to their feet. 

As the boy ran to his father, I saw the direction that my latest target had gone off. I walked after him.

_ ‘I have never loved Michael Myers more in my life.’ _

He ran to hide inside a building.

I walked up to the wall.

I punched through the wall.

_ ‘Great two-step plan.’ _

My hand made a quick puppet, pretending to not know where he was. Turned to the right, slowly moved to face the asshole. I could only imagine his startled expression. My hand puppet gave him a once over before turned at me to confirm. It was a little fun to toy with him.

My full arm lashed out, grabbing his jacket. I pulled him through the wall.

He screamed as he hit the dirt. Grabbing my bo staff, I twirled it in my hand.

A crowd of people appeared around us. I slammed the end of my stick on the ground. Also onto the phone he had tried to use to call for Rasa. It got the attention of the crowd.

Iron Man marched up behind me. I clicked my heels together, activating the rockets. As I hovered into the air, I waved my fingers at the terrorist. He was hopefully pissing his pants right now.

“He’s all yours.” Iron Man told them. He flew off.

I followed.

Iron Man flew to the next village. He had spotted the Jericho missiles. I proudly flew up to his side, my black hair contained inside the hood.

I dodged the missile before it could hit us. Iron Man crashed on the ground. I teleported beside his crater.

He climbed out, glaring in the direction of the tank. His JARVIS had told him where the missile had come from. Mine had too. 

Iron Man fired his own missile.

_ ‘Cool guys don’t look at explosions. _ ’ I sang. The heat from the flames could be felt even at this distance.  _ ‘They blow things up and then walk away.’ _

“You good?” I asked him, loading my arm blasters.

“Never better.” He replied.

That was when the Ten Rings began firing at us again.

I used my JARVIS to pin each of their locations. Once they were located I aimed at the Jericho.

“We should fly.” I advised, activating the boots to lift me off the ground.

Iron Man joined me.

As we flew up, I fired two blasts at the Jericho missiles. It lit up the entire street in flames.

“And she’ll be Scottish.” I decided, powering down the blasters. “Or Irish. Which one had the redheads? I feel like pissing SASHA’s ghost off.”

_ “What are you talking about?”  _ Iron Man asked over the comms.

“Nothing for you to worry you’re metal head about.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SASHA is a reference to a one-shot I wrote, about the one AI Morgan built. And also, hey new chapter! Hope y’all enjoy this!


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